Chicken Saltimbocca
Ingredients
- 1/4 c plain flour
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1 lb chicken cutlets (boneless, skinless, thin cut, trimmed of ragged edges if necessary; use boneless skinless breasts if cutlets aren't available, pounding thin.)
- 1/2 T minced sage (fresh, plus 4 large leaves)
- 4 Parma ham (slices, cut into 5"-6" long pieces to match chicken (about 1.5oz))
- 2 T olive oil
- 5 fl oz chicken broth (original calls for dry vermouth or white wine)
- 1 t fresh lemon juice
- 28 g unsalted butter (cut into 2 pieces and chilled)
- 1/2 T minced parsley (fresh)
- salt
Method
1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 200F. Combine flour and 1/2tsp pepper in a shallow dish.
2. Pat chicken dry with paper towels. Dredge chicken in flour, shaking off any excess. Lay chicken flat and sprinkle evenly with minced sage. Place one parma ham slice on top of each cutlet, pressing lightly to adhere; set aside.
3. Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat until beginning to shimmer. Add sage leaves and cook until leaves begin to change color and are fragrant, about 15-20 seconds. Using slotted spoon, remove sage to paper-towel-lined plate; reserve.
4. Add cutlets to pan, parma-ham-side-down, and cook until light golden brown, 2-3 minutes. Flip and cook on other side until light golden brown, about 2 minutes more. Transfer to wire rack set on rimmed baking sheet and keep warm in oven.
5. Pour off excess fat from skillet. Stir in broth/vermouth, scraping up any browned bits, and simmer until reduced to about 2 tablespoons, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in lemon juice. Turn heat to low and whisk in butter, half at a time.
6. Off heat, stir in parsley and season with salt and pepper. Remove chicken from oven and place on platter. Spoon sauce over cutlets and then top with fried sage leaves before serving.
Notes
SJ Note 25 Mar 2012: This was really tasty! I pounded two chicken breasts thin to use in this, then cut them smaller to match the photo with the original recipe. Next time, if I can get large slices of parma ham, I can just leave the breasts whole (possibly chop off the dangly bit) and that'll be fine. It's just down to what's manageable for flipping with the parma ham slices. Anyways, the recipe's real good, worked wonderful; the food was real tasty, and (now that we've made it once) it won't take much to make - this could easily be a weeknight dinner once you get the hang of it.