Saltimbocca Romano

Italian Chicken

For options it can be made with chicken or even the other white meat, pork.

Ingredients

  • Miss Amy O'Dell, no offense but what you're asking for is no where near chicken saltimboca. the recipe below is for veal but can transpose it.
  • 1 lb. Veal for scaloppini cut into 8 medallions pounded thin.
  • 1/2 lb. of imported prosciutto sliced paper thin. There is no such thing as Prosciutto sliced too thin.
  • 1 cup of flour for dredging
  • Some good olive oil
  • A stick bitter
  • Fresh sage leaves, 8 or one per piece of veal; dried sage is a poor substitute for this dish to hold
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • Some good dry white wine (do not cook with any wine you wouldn't drink)
  • 1/2 to 1 cup of chicken or veal stock
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • Small handful of fresh chopped Italian flat leaf parsley for garnish
  • Listed are both the basic sauté version and the fold over version; it's a matter of preference.

Directions

Pat the veal in flour coating both sides, dust off excess and set aside. In a sauté on med. / high heat add some olive oil and some butter. As soon as it comes backup to temp, sauté the veal on both sides just long enough to seal the juices; 5-10 seconds / side, remove from pan, set aside and remove the pan from the heat. S & P the veal to taste, place a sage leaf on each piece of veal topped with a slice of prosciutto. Fold over the prosciutto so it does not hang over the sides of the veal. Use a toothpick treaded horizontally to pin together. Bring the sauté pan back up to heat, add 4 pieces to the pan and sauté for about 15 to 20 seconds then add a splash of wine. When the wine simmers down, remove the veal, set aside, keep warm and continue with the remainder. Adjust oil and butter at this time if required but continue cooking until back up to temp. When all the veal is in the keep warm plate, add some additional wine to the pan to de-glaze the pan. Scrape up all the cooked pieces on the bottom of the pan until they start to thin out and the sauce starts to thicken. Add a little stock and sauté until it reduces too almost half. Pour over veal on individual serving plates and serve garnished with parsley. I know by this time you were smart enough to get all your side dishes ready so everything can be served together, right!

The folder over: first off you may have to make the medallions a litter larger. Pound and lay out flat. Flour the bottom side just like the first method and set aside on some waxed paper or a clean surface. Place a slice of folded prosciutto on one side of each of the veal slices, and top with a sage leaf. Fold the veal over to cover the prosciutto and sage and pound or press along the edges to seal. When you fold the veal over don't think it has to look like an apple turnover, as long as you cover most of it, it will be just fine. Use a toothpick to hold this pocket together if necessary. Cook the same way but both sides.


A CLASSIC ROMAN SCALOPPINI DISH Over the years, this wonderful veal scaloppini dish has truly become a world classic. The word Saltimbocca means to "jump in the mouth" in Italian. It is a dish of thinly sliced veal, topped with sage and prosciutto, sautéed in butter and finished in wine. Some recipes call for the veal to be folded over or even rolled up before cooking and secured with a toothpick. Folded is fine but in reality, you never roll Saltimbocca; rolled up it would be considered a rollatini. This dish was said the have originated at the end of nineteenth century in the city of Brescia of the Lombardy region of Italy. Today it is one of the most authentic Italian dishes we know and certainly synonymous with Rome.

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Submitted 1/11/06.
Source: SOUTH SIDE SOCIAL CLUB COOKBOOK
Submitted By: VINCENZO PAOLINO
vinpaolino@yahoo.com
Saltimbocca Romano