Chicken Saltimboca with Marsala Wine Sauce →

In Italy, Saltimbocca (meaning “to jump in the mouth”) consists of thin slices of veal stuffed with prosciutto, sage, and a melted cheese, sometimes accompanied by a wine sauce. This recipe is an interpretation of the traditional dish served in Italy and found here in the United States on menus of many good Italian restaurants. For my purposes, I chose to use butterflied chicken breasts in place of veal; used fontina for the cheese; added spinach, and made a sauce from Marsala wine. The ingredients list is a bit long, but the dish is flavorful and elegant enough to serve to dinner guests and it won’t break the family budget. In place of traditional heavy cream, I opted to make a roux to create a lighter Marsala sauce saving calories and cholesterol for another time. Served over egg noodles or pappardelle, or polenta accompanied by sauteed broccoli or broccolini, or a mixed green salad, it will jump in your mouth. I hope you like it. Enjoy!

Chicken Saltimbocca with Marsala Wine Sauce
Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

• 1 ¾ cups chicken broth

• 1 tablespoon finely chopped shallot

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter

• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh sage

• ¼ teaspoon salt

• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper

• 2 handfuls of baby spinach rinsed

• 1 clove of garlic minced

• a pinch of hot pepper flakes

• 2 teaspoons lemon juice

• 2 teaspoons lemon zest

• 4 large sage leaves

• 2 slices of prosciutto cut crosswise in half

• 4 thin slices of fontina cheese about 2 x 2 ½ inches

• ½ cup all-purpose flour

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• ½ cup of dry Marsala wine

Optional: toasted sage leaves or chopped parsley for garnish. 

PREPARATION
Pre-heat your oven to 200 F.

1. In a saucepan over high heat, bring the chicken broth to a boil and reduce it by half. Remove from heat and set aside.

2. In a heavy bottom skillet over medium heat, heat a tablespoon of olive oil, and add the minced garlic and pepper flakes stirring for about a minute. Don’t burn the garlic. Add the baby spinach, lemon juice, and lemon zest and sauté until the spinach has wilted. Remove the spinach mixture from the skillet and set aside. Wipe out the skillet with a paper towel.

3. Cut across each chicken breast so you have two pieces roughly the same size. Carefully butterfly (slice) each half lengthwise leaving about an inch uncut at one side of each breast piece.

4. Open the butterflied breast pieces, placing each butterflied half of a breast between two layers of plastic wrap. Gently pound each with a meat mallet or rolling pin to flatten each piece to a uniform thickness of about ½ inch thick.

5. Lay the pounded pieces open and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place a tablespoon of cooked spinach, a sage leaf, a piece of prosciutto, and a slice of fontina on each piece and fold over the other half of the butterflied chicken to create a “sandwich”.

6. Add flour to a flat plate and carefully dredge both sides of the chicken “sandwiches” in the flour, shaking off any excess flour. Heat 1 tablespoon each of oil and butter in the skillet over moderately high heat until the foam subsides, then sauté the chicken “sandwiches” until golden brown (about 2-3 minutes on each side), carefully turning over once. At that point, the cheese should be starting to melt and ooze out of the stuffed “sandwiches”. Transfer the cooked chicken to a large heatproof platter or sheet pan and tent placing the platter in a warm oven.

7. Wipe out the skillet with a paper towel. Over medium heat, add a tablespoon of olive oil and sauté the shallot and fresh sage for a minute or two (don’t burn the shallot). Add a tablespoon of butter to melt. Sprinkle two to three teaspoons of flour over the shallots and stir until the flour is well incorporated and just beginning to brown on the bottom of the skillet. (You’re making a roux: more flour = thicker sauce.)

8. Add the chicken broth and wine to the skillet, stirring constantly until you have a smooth sauce. Taste the sauce and adjust the salt and pepper to your preference. *Optional: a few drops of lemon juice at the end will brighten the sauce.
9. Carefully return the pieces of chicken to the skillet with the sauce and heat over medium-low heat until you can see the cheese has melted. Serve the chicken with sauce. Garnish with toasted sage. (optional)
10. Serve with sauce over egg noodles, pappardelle, or polenta.

Wine pairing: an un-oaked Chardonnay or Burgundy, Rueda, Vernaccia, Pinot grigio, Viognier, or
dry-Riesling; for red wines, a Barbera, chilled Rosé, Pinot Noir, or Beaujolais would also work.  

Chicken Rollatini with Mushroom Marsala Sauce →

Eggplant Rollatini (also called Eggplant Involtini) is a classic Italian dish made with thin slices of eggplant rolled around a stuffing of ricotta and spinach; fried or baked and served with tomato sauce and melted mozzarella. This Chicken Rollatini recipe uses thin chicken cutlets rolled around a stuffing of Fontina cheese, Prosciutto, and Sage. The slightly nutty-sweet mushroom-marsala wine sauce provides a nice compliment to the chicken, rich runny Fontina, and the slightly bitter Sage. I love toasted Sage, so I garnish the dish with crumbled toasted Sage. Easy and satisfying to make for the family and elegant and delicious enough to serve for a dinner party. Buon appetito!

Serves 4
Ingredients:

• 2 chicken breasts cut in half lengthwise (be careful!) and flattened so you have 4 chicken cutlets about ¼ inch thick

• 3 tablespoons flour

• ½ cup of shredded Fontina cheese

• 1/3 cup + 2 teaspoons chopped sage leaves

• 2 thin slices of Prosciutto cut in half and folded in half so you have 4 pieces of prosciutto

• 8 or 10 ounces of mushrooms of your choice, sliced, stems removed (I prefer wild mushrooms, but button mushrooms work as well.)

• 1 cup dry Marsala wine

• 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

• 2 cups chicken broth

• salt and pepper

• 6-8 large sage leaves for optional garnish (see *Note below)

Preparation:

1. Pound your chicken cutlets between sheets of plastic wrap with a meat mallet or rolling pin so you have 4 cutlets about a ¼ inch thick.

2. Lay out the cutlets and put about 2 tablespoons of shredded Fontina on each cutlet.

3. Put 2 or 3 teaspoons of chopped sage over the Fontina and cover with a piece of the folded Prosciutto.

4. Carefully roll up the cutlet and tie snugly in the middle with a length of cooking twine; trim off any extra twine once tied.

5. Salt and pepper the rolled cutlets (rollatini) and dredge in the flour, shaking off extra flour.

6. Brown the rollatini on all sides over medium high heat in a cast iron or other heavy bottomed pan; remove the rollatini from the heat and cover to keep warm.

7. Add the sliced mushrooms and 2 teaspoons of sage with a little of the Marsala or chicken broth and scrape up any brown crusty bits stuck to the pan.

8. Once the mushrooms have released their moisture and begin to brown add the Marsala, lemon zest, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper, and cook over medium high heat until reduced by a half.

9. Add the broth and reduce by half.

10. Return the rollatini to the pan and coat with the sauce while cooking for about 3-4 minutes more until fully heated through.

11. Optional: garnish with crumbled toasted sage leaves.

(*Note: save 6-8 large sage leaves and fry them in a hot pan with a little olive oil. They will cook very quickly so pay attention; turn them once and remove to a paper towel; sprinkle with coarse salt and set aside. This takes about 3-4 minutes total. Do this before you start cooking the main dish.)

Serve over buttered egg noodles accompanied by the vegetable and/or salad of your choice. For wine, a balanced, crisp, not too buttery Chardonnay, or a Chablis, or ever-food-friendly dry Riesling or Viognier matches nicely with this dish.