Stuffed Proscuitto Chicken Breasts
6 Bonelss Skinless Chicken Breasts
6 slices Proscuitto
6 slices Provolne
6 slices Smokey Swiss
2 Leeks - stem slicked as thin as you can get it
3 Shallots - minced
about 8 mushrooms - minced (used 1/2 button & 1/2 cremini)
1 stick (1/2 C) Butter
3 Tbs Flour
2 C Chicken Stock
1/4 C White wine - used Muscadet Sevre et Maine a Barton & Guestier white wine that is a drier than their Vouvray.
1/4 C cream (1/2 & 1/2, milk)
Sage - 6 whole leaves plus 3 leaves minced
Olive Oil

Add a few tbs olive oil to a chef pan, get it hot and sautee leeks, shallots and mushrooms for about 5 minutes. Add a little salt and pepper while cooking. Set aside, leaving whatever oil is in the pan.

Pound chicken breasts till about 1/2" thick. You don't have to pound them much, but flatenning them out some makes them cook faster and gives a larger area for putting the leek mixture. Sautee chicken breasts in oil until brown on both sides. Salt and pepper them to taste. I can sautee 2 breasts in my chef pan, so I added some butter as needed, and deglazed a little with white wine as I was cooking them. This helps flavor them, as well as gives them a nice color. Set aside.

While you are sauting the chicken breasts, make the sauce. Make a roux in a sauce pan with 3 tbs butter and 3 tbs flour. This should be a white roux. Add salt and pepper. Let it cook for a few minutes, whisking frequently. Add cream and stir as it turns into a paste. Slowly add the chicken stock a little at a time, whisking and combining as you go. Add minced sage and turn on low.

As I was sauting the chicken breasts and deglazing them, I would pour some of the drippings into the sauce and then add more butter to the pan and sautee the next chicken breasts. (If you use a pan large enough to sautee all the breasts, you can deglaze and add the drippings at the end).

Once all the chicken is done, you can "stuff" the breasts and put them in the oven to finish.

Cover the bottom of a 9x13 glass pan with a little of the sauce.

Take a chicken breast, put about a tbs of the leek mixture in the middle, put a slice of smokey swiss on top, then provolone, then a sage leaf, then wrap a slice of proscuitto around the middle. The chicken will be wider than the proscuitto, so the proscuitto is around the middle and wraps all the way around. Place in glass pan.

Once all breasts are in the pan, put remaining leek mixture in the middle of each breast.

Place pan in preheated 350 degree oven and bake for 24 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the chicken cooked through.

Accompaniments
The cheese, proscuitto and sage given this a distintive flavor, which goes very nicely with a chilled Vouvray. You can use the Vouvray in the sauce as well, but I had some of the Muscadet Severe et Maine left from dinner a few nights before.

Served with steamed asparagrus, which I steam for 12 minutes. I set the timer for 12 minutes, then steamed the asparagrus for the remaining 12 and the chicken was done.

I also served this with an appetizer plate of small tomatoes quartered, red grapes, salami and a Dubliner cheese. The cheese is fairly sharp and the Vouvray and tomatoes complemented it nicely.

Difficulty/Cooking time
This is a fairly easy dish that comes out looking very nice and has a distinctive flavor, but does take a little time to prepare.

Prep time is about 20 minutes (There was a sale on split chicken breasts, so I had to take some time to debone/deskin them).
Sauting time (because I did 3 batches) was probably about 20 minutes.
Baking time was 24 minutes.
- posted by James @ 5:37 AM