hopefully. i’ve been on a bit of a break since my computer crashed and my camera went missing…. but enough of my friends have convinced me that my beloved iphone pictures are good enough to keep blogging with. (even though they’re too yellow)
so, slowly but surely, here i am 🙂 maybe i can use my lovely roommate’s SLR once in a while…
when i was in seattle i had this amazing prosciutto-wrapped chicken dish, and decided to try to recreate it for dinner the other night for a friend 🙂 i made taleggio-stuffed chicken, wrapped with prosciutto with garlicky green beans, roasted cherry tomatoes and a simple white wine pan sauce with cremini mushrooms. lots of stuff.
apologies in advance for the lack of pictures… i wasn’t sure if i was going to blog so i didn’t take that many.
last week was my week of cooking lessons. not that i am AT ALL qualified to give cooking lessons, but my friends wanted me to teach them what i was making. who am i to argue? plus, i love to talk about food so it was a win-win situation. the “lessons” basically consisted of drinking lots of wine, talking and tasting everything. and complaining about the burnt out lightblub in the kitchen.
so first, start your roasted cherry tomatoes. i was inspired by nadia g’s roasted cherry tomatoes because she added brown sugar to the tomatoes and garlic. sounded interesting en0ugh to try. btw, if you have cooking channel… you have to watch her show, bitchin’ kitchen. its the weirdest thing i’ve ever seen… but i can’t stop watching because i want to see what weird thing she’s gonna do/say next!
halve your cherry tomatoes, or leave them whole. put them in a baking dish and toss with some smashed garlic cloves, olive oil, sea salt, black pepper, some oregano (i used dried because it’s what i had on hand) and a big pinch of brown sugar. toss, and throw in a 450 degree oven for 30-40 minutes.
then start prepping your chicken.
- wash and thoroughly dry boneless, skinless chicken breasts.
- using a small, sharp knife- cut a deep pocket in the thickest part of the breast without cutting through all the way.
- tuck a slice of taleggio cheese in the pocket.
- close the pocket, salt and pepper both sides of the chicken.
- lay down 2 slices of prosciutto, horizontally.
- put the chicken in the middle of the prosciutto.
- wrap the prosciutto around the chicken, sealing the cheese pocket.
heat a thin layer of canola or some other light oil over medium/medium-high heat in a large skillet. preferably not nonstick. once the oil is shimmering, add the wrapped chicken – seam side up.
*warning – the prosciutto will stick to the pan. do not be alarmed. it will let go when its ready to flip 🙂 just let it sit undisturbed for about 5 minutes, when it loosens it’s browned and ready to flip.
meanwhile, the tomatoes should be slightly charred and caramelized, and the garlic should be roasted and soft.
lots of yellow.
lower the oven temp to 375.
flip your chicken and let it sit for about 3 min until the prosciutto loosens again. meanwhile, in a baking dish, pour a thin layer of white wine. i used pinot grigio bc that’s what we had… i am not a wine connoisseur at all so please don’t rely on my wine choices. when i cook with wine i usually just pour whatever is in my glass 🙂 literally.
i put the wine in the pan to help keep the chicken moist while it finishes cooking. whether or not it really helps, i have no idea. worth a shot though.
put the chicken in the pan with the wine and scoot it into the oven. *don’t clean out the skillet!
keep the chicken breasts close together to try to keep the cheese from leaking out too much (in case it does).
keep the chicken in until cooked through, about 20 min or until “the juices run clear”. i honestly don’t know what this means but that’s what people say. i usually just cut a piece and make sure there’s no pink left. just remember there is cheese in there so try not to cut into it too far (like i did)!
meanwhile, make your garlicky green beans:
- pour a couple tablespoons of olive oil into a pan
- bring the heat to a medium, medium low
- throw in a couple chopped cloves of garlic
- let the garlic SLOWLY cook and infuse the oil. it shouldn’t brown, just get soft and fragrant.
- toss in your haricot verts or green beans, some sea salt and pepper and saute until cooked/heated through. make sure they are still crisp!
then, the pan sauce.
- put the skillet that was cooking the chicken back over medium, medium-high heat. add a knob of butter and let it melt.
- add some sliced mushrooms and let them brown
- pour in some white wine from your glass and deglaaaaze
- add a pinch of salt and pepper, and let it reduce to nearly nothing. then pour in more wine and let it reduce by 1/4 or 1/2
- melt in a bit of butter and its done!
then plate up your creations!
yum.
happy eating 🙂
City Chick Cooks 