Chicken and Ham Rolls with Spinach
This dish is a delicious variation on Chicken Cordon Bleu. The chicken turns out especially tender and juicy, and the presentation is appealing when you have company over or for a family dinner that everyone will enjoy.
Ingredients
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (6-8 ounces each), butterflied into large cutlets*
- Salt and pepper
- 2 tablespoons chopped sage leaves
- 8 slices prosciutto (other deli sliced meat that is not smoked may also be substituted)
-
1/2 pound fontina cheese, thinly sliced, Italian or Danish, available in the specialty cheese case usually located near deli section of larger grocery stores
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, plus 1 tablespoon
-
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 8 baby portobello (crimini) mushrooms, sliced
- 1 cup chicken stock, available in boxes on soup aisle (chicken broth may be substituted)
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 pound triple-washed spinach
Preparation
Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Pre-heat oven to 400°F.
Place cutlets on a plastic cutting board and season with salt and pepper. Top with chopped sage, two slices prosciutto each and a few thin slices of fontina. Roll tightly and secure with toothpicks. Season outside of rolls with more salt and pepper, then dredge in flour.
Add two tablespoons EVOO, about 2 turns of the pan, and 1 tablespoon butter to the pan. Add chicken and raise heat to medium-high. Brown the rolls evenly, about five minutes, then place on a nonstick cookie sheet and transfer to oven to roast for 15 minutes longer.
Add another tablespoon pf butter to the pan and melt it. Add mushrooms to the pan and cook, stirring frequently, until just tender, about 3-4 minutes. Add flour and cook another minute. Whisk in stock. Season pan gravy with mushrooms with salt and pepper and turn off heat. Reheat with moderate flame when you remove the chicken rolls from the oven and you are ready to serve.
Pre-heat a second skillet over medium heat. Add EVOO, about two turns of the pan, and the garlic. Add the spinach to the pan in bunches and turn to wilt. Add more spinach as it wilts down until all the spinach is in the pan. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve warm.
To plate, leave rolls whole and spill sauce over top, with the spinach alongside. Or, slice rolls and fan them out over a bed of spinach and top with mushroom sauce.
*Ask butcher to butterfly the chicken breasts into large cutlets for you. This is a real timesaver! If a butcher is not available to you, cut into each breast from the fatter side and work across the breast, leaving them attached at the opposite side. Open the breast up and pound lightly with a mallet to about a 1/4-inch thickness. Also, in many grocery stores, chicken cutlets are available in packages. They are small pieces of thinly sliced breast meat. Simply adapt the method and make two small roll-ups rather than one large roll up per portion.
