Pollo Saltimbocca

First of all, let me apologize for the delay. Believe it or not, it is quite difficult to keep a regular blog when you are taking four studio classes, an art history class, have to shop, cook, and get a decent sleep, and are trying to see all there is to see in a new, fantastic city. Not that I am at all complaining!! 

            Anyway, I left off telling you about the night I made Chicken Saltimbocca. Chicken Saltimbocca is a classic recipe that involves some variation of cutlets of chicken pounded flat and rolled up with prosciutto and other ingredients. For mine, I decided that it would be lovely to have a mixture of spinach, ricotta, and parmigiano reggiano. Of course I got the chicken breasts at the mercato and had the butcher cut and pound the cutlets for me. Before preparing the chicken, I made a few little appetizers for my housemates and I to munch on. I fried some fiori di zucchine (zucchini flowers) in a light batter of flower, salt, pepper, and egg, and also made a miniature version of a classic Italian lunch: mozzarella in carrozza. It is basically Italian grilled cheese. You take a nice thick slice of fresh mozzarella, a hefty slice of fresh tomato, secure it between two pieces of bread with a toothpick, soak the whole thing in egg, and pan grill it until the egg is cooked, the bread is soft, and the mozzarella is oozing out of the sides. It is heaven in a sandwich. I made my mini ones with slices of baguette. Getting back to the main dish, after laying out the cutlets and seasoning them with salt and pepper, I placed a thin slice of prosciutto di parma on each one. With my mouth already watering, I then mixed thawed frozen spinach, a decent amount of ricotta (fresh from the market), and a generous amount of parmigiano in a large mixing bowl. I spread that mixture over the prosciutto and chicken and then rolled each one into a little bundle of salty, chickeny, goodness and secured them with a toothpick. As a side note, I have been reading Julia Child’s “My Life in France” and it has been one of the most entertaining books I have ever read. One thing she said really stuck with me when I was preparing this dish. She was talking about how before meeting her teacher at Le Cordon Bleu, she over-spiced her cooking and thought that by doing so, she was adding flavor. This she realized,  is not good cooking. Good cooking is knowing how to make a chicken really taste like chicken. And so with that in mind, I simply seared my saltimbocca on each side to brown before adding a simple sauce of low sodium chicken broth, white wine, and lemon juice. I let that reduce for about ten minutes before serving it hot, right over the chicken. Although I am sure Mrs. Child could have done a far better job, I was for the first time conscious and aware of each ingredient I was cooking with and how each of them would contribute to the culmination of flavors in the dish.  And so I left the dinner table with a full stomach, and a great sense of accomplishment.            

            

I fiori di Zucchine

Mozzarella in Carrozza 

A perfect roll

Chicken Saltimbocca