Jump For Joy With One of the Best Italian Chicken Breast Recipes

I have been told that Saltimbocca means “jumps in your mouth” in Italian. So if there was ever an exception to my aversion to boneless, skinless chicken breasts, this is the one. You will never call it tasteless. It’s my favorite of Italian chicken breast recipes.

I don’t often buy skinless, boneless because I think they’re overpriced for what you’re getting. And if I want to make saltimbocca, I have to butterfly and pound the breast because I want thin pieces. Thighs work just as well, by the way.

The Decision

So, after opening a package of prosciutto that we didn’t finish the other day, I asked Michael, “What are we going to do with the remaining prosciutto?” In a sealed package such as we bought, it could sit around for a while in the fridge, but once opened, I would really like to use it within a couple days for zero waste cooking. Michael answered, “Chicken Saltimbocca”.

I agreed that was a good idea, so a couple days later, as he was expecting me to make chicken saltimbocca, he was baffled when he saw me putting a whole chicken into the oven. Apparently he thought I had leftovers of chicken that I was planning to use in preparing this dish?

What I had available was a whole chicken, so with my sharpest knife, I sliced away the skin from the top of the breast and carved out some thin slices of raw breast. Then I roasted the rest of the bird for use later. That’s how my simple no plan meal plan works.

Guess what! My choice of what to slice and how thin eliminated the need to butterfly and pound the large breasts I usually find in the market. Breast is tender enough. All I needed to do was season it up and cook it. Simple!

Usually this is done by placing fresh sage leaves on the breast pieces before wrapping with prosciutto. Well, I didn’t have any fresh sage leaves (which I love in so many things), so I used dried sage powder and dried French thyme instead. I guess I usually consider dried sage as being more compatible with a longer cooking meal, so I imagined the thyme would help us out. Actually, we were very happy with the results and I didn’t miss the fresh sage at all.

Ingredients:

• chicken breasts
• sage
• prosciutto
• flour
• butter
• garlic
• white wine

Basically, here’s what I did after slicing some thin pieces of breast from my raw chicken: Seasoned both sides with a touch of salt, garlic powder, dried sage and thyme. Covered one side of each piece of chicken with a slice of prosciutto, wrapping around the edge if necessary. Sprinkled lightly with flour.

Cooking

In a skillet, melt some butter. Put the chicken breasts in: prosciutto side down first. You just want to get a little golden color on them, which only takes a minute or two. Turn them over for another couple minutes. Take out of skillet and reserve on a plate.

What you do next depends how many pieces of chicken you are serving. If you’ve browned the prosciutto side of all the chicken pieces, you can proceed to making the sauce.

The Sauce

How does the butter look? If it’s not burning, you can add a touch of white wine to deglaze the pan for a few seconds, scraping up any browned bits of meat. (The acidic liquid helps to incorporate the flavorful, golden remnants from your pan into the sauce you are making. You could use a little lemon juice and/or chicken broth if you prefer.) Then add some minced garlic. Let that cook a minute or so and then add some more wine and reduce heat.

If you’re cooking more batches of chicken, keep an eye on the heat and the color of the butter/oil. If it’s starting to burn, get a new pan or carefully find a way to wipe out the existing skillet without using your bare hands. A spatula and paper towel might do.

Once you have begun the butter/wine/garlic sauce, you can reduce the heat to low and return your chicken pieces to the skillet. Now all you have to do is pay attention to how it looks. How thick are your chicken pieces? Is the sauce thickening up a bit and becoming a pleasing golden color? My thin pieces of breast really only required a few more minutes to cook with the lid off because I wanted the sauce to reduce a bit. If they were thicker pieces of chicken, I would have cooked a bit longer with the lid on.

Watch it and see what you think. You can always test the middle if you’re not sure. You will learn to know when it’s ready as you continue to develop your intuition in the kitchen and rely less on recipes. Spoon some sauce on top of each breast piece to serve. Buon appetito!

Please read Don’t Be Chicken to find out how to roast the rest of the bird.