Chicken Saltimbocca
This healthy chicken saltimbocca recipe makes an impressive, yet fast, classy dinner. Serve this Italian-inspired chicken with roasted broccoli rabe and creamy polenta to round out this elegant meal.
Ingredients
- 2 small boneless skinless chicken breasts (5-6 ounces each), tenders removed (see Tip)
- ¼ teaspoon ground pepper
- 2 thin slices prosciutto
- 2-4 fresh sage leaves
- 1 ½ teaspoons all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
- ¾ cup dry Marsala
Instructions
- Put chicken breasts between pieces of plastic wrap and, using a rolling pin or the smooth side of a meat mallet, bash them to a thickness of about 1/4 inch, but don't bash so hard that they break up. Season with pepper. Wrap a slice of prosciutto around each chicken escalope and put a sage leaf or two on top. Lightly dust the chicken on both sides with flour.
- Heat butter and oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook the chicken until no longer pink in the middle, about 3 minutes per side. To check if it's done, stick the tip of a sharp knife into it: the juice that runs out should be clear with no trace of pink. Transfer the chicken to a warm platter and cover with foil.
- Add Marsala to the pan and cook over high heat until thickened and reduced by about half, 3 to 4 minutes. Serve the sauce over the chicken.
Notes
It's tricky to find individual chicken breasts small enough for one portion. Removing the thin strip of meat from the underside of a 5-ounce breast--the chicken tender--removes about 1 ounce of meat and yields a perfect 4-ounce portion. Wrap and freeze the tenders and when you have gathered enough, use them in a stir-fry or for oven-baked chicken fingers. If you can only find large chicken breasts, you'll need just 1 breast for 2 servings--remove the tender and cut it in half crosswise before cooking.