RECIPE: Chicken Saltimbocca for the Rest of Us (and Haley’s first foray into food styling…

When I was living the grad student lifestyle up in Boston, my favorite little Italian restaurant was Antonia’s in Davis Square, Somerville. They made a chicken saltimbocca that was obscenely good…up until they got a new chef who made his own version of the dish – a tasty but much heavier version, not the lemony, sagey light offering I craved.

So I decided to recreate my favorite dish, and make it a bit more everyday, normal person, left-over friendly. Rather than wrapping the chicken breasts in prosciutto, I cut up the chicken and slice the prosciutto into thin strips so as to stretch it (that's some expensive ham, yo). I have made this many, many times, and it is consistently a crowd pleaser. Plus, it’s pretty easy…

I guess I should admit that I am not someone who believes in recipes. Trying to quantify the bits and pieces that go into this dish was a bit tricky, but let’s just remember that this ain’t rocket science, folks. Nor is it baking (much harder than rocket science). So, take these amounts as a loose guideline and adjust as you see fit.

2 large chicken breasts
16 ounces white button mushrooms
4-5 thin slices of prosciutto
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup white wine
Handful of sage leaves
Handful of Italian flat leaf parsley
1 Lemon
1 cup flour
Salt and pepper
Butter
Olive Oil
Pasta of your choice to serve over (penne works well)

Cut your chicken into bite-sized pieces and dredge them in flour seasoned with salt and pepper (if you have dried sage, throw a teaspoon or so in as well). Sauté the chicken in a Tablespoon of butter and a glug (yes, a glug) of olive oil. Remove chicken from pan and set aside (you don’t have to cook the chicken all the way through at this point – just get the pieces nice and golden brown).

Next, throw some mushrooms in the pan. Now, if you are cooking for your boss, your mother, or someone you are lusting after, I suggest you sauté the mushrooms one small handful at a time. That way they get nicely brown and crispy on the edges and look and taste amazing.

However, if it’s a Tuesday night and you’re hungry and you’ve already drank half the bottle of white wine that you bought to make this dish, just dump ‘em in. They won’t be miraculous, but they’ll still be good.

Once the mushrooms are browned, add the chicken back in along with the prosciutto and the sage leaves, both of which you have expertly cut into fine strips (but leave out a tablespoon of the sage to thrown in at the very end). Follow with the chicken stock, white wine, and the juice of half a lemon. Let it simmer while you put on a pot of water to cook your pasta, and enjoy the ingredient that just keeps on giving.

Side note: If you don’t have a vacuum wine-sealer thingamajig, go out and get one now. Go. Really, we’ll wait for you to come back. And don’t bother with that expensive rabbit thing – unnecessary. The cheap-o, white plastic thing with the rubber stoppers I bought years ago is still one of my most frequently used kitchen items, and works like gangbusters. Sure, I only have one of the six stoppers left, but I make do.

Once the sauce has simmered down to a nice spoon-coating consistency and your kitchen smells like Heaven (if Heaven is a hole-in-the-wall Italian joint) turn off the heat, sprinkle with your chopped up parsley, remaining sage, and the juice of the other half of your lemon. Serve over penne, with a glass of our aforementioned favorite ingredient alongside, and I promise that your mom will forget that you don’t call her as much as you should, your boss will give you the promotion that you thought would go to that ass-kissing Joan person, and the object of your affection will strip in your kitchen.

It’s really that good.