Sunshine and Olly

by Jonathan Blaustein

I’ve got a new recipe for you. 

Super-duper special. 

As with some others I’ve shared, it’s an intricate, multi-step dish that’s perfect for celebrations. 

In this case, I actually made it for Thanksgiving dinner last night. 

(I don’t bother with turkey, which is not flavorful enough to be worth all the effort.)

Poultry is specific to the occasion though, so I busted out a modified, personalized version of one of my favorite Italian classics: Chicken Saltimbocca.

(It’s often done with veal too, and again, my recipe is not traditional, which is a no-no to the Italians.)








Before we get into it, I apologize that I didn't put much energy into the photos. 

I made a big baked ziti with marinara sauce for Wednesday night’s dinner, and also did an apple crumble and cranberry sauce earlier yesterday, so by the time I got around to making the chicken, I had “this” much energy left for pictures. 

(That said, the photos at least give you a sense of some steps.)






In my experience growing up with a ton of Italian-American food, and then spending 6 weeks living in Rome in my 20’s, I’ve had different versions of Saltimbocca.

What always sticks with me is chicken or veal, topped with prosciutto, and finished with a nice sauce. 

Sometimes, there’s cheese. 

The Romans use sage.

And at a NYC Theater District joint called Lino’s, in the late 80’s, they included a super-thin layer of eggplant too. 

Here’s how I did it:

About 3 lbs of chicken fingers
10 good mushrooms 
1 clove of garlic
2 packets of prosciutto
1 package of Mexican quesadilla cheese 
1.5 c AP flour
1/3 stick of salted butter 
1 carton of chicken stock 

First, dust the chicken with salt and pepper, cover, and leave it out at room temperature for about an hour.

Then heat up a dutch oven, or big skillet, and add extra virgin olive oil when the pan is hot.

Cook the chicken in three batches. Sear each side, and make sure the pieces are mostly, (if not completely) cooked through. 

Remove the chicken when it’s done, and set it off to the side. 

Using a slightly damp paper towel, wipe off your mushrooms, and then slice them.

Add more olive oil to the pan, and sear/sauté the mushrooms, seasoning with salt and pepper. Meaning, leave them alone for periods of time so they can develop a sear, but also move them around enough they don’t burn. 

Once the mushrooms have some nice color, make a well in the center of the pan, mince your garlic, and chuck it in. Add a little salt and pepper to the garlic, and when it has some color, stir in with the mushrooms.

When the mushroom/garlic mix has the right cooked-down consistency, remove from the pan. 

Drop the heat a smidge, then add in the flour and butter, to make a roux. 

You can add touch of salt here, but not too much, as the butter is salted. 

Once the mix has a paste-like consistency and a nutty brown color, add the carton of chicken stock, and stir. Add in the mushroom-garlic mix now too.

Season with salt and pepper to taste, and stir the sauce until it cooks down to a creamy consistency. 

(About 5 minutes or so.)

If you want to minimize dishes, (as I did,) you can do all the pre-cooking in one pan.

If so, remove the sauce with a ladle, reheat the pan, and add just a touch of olive oil.

Then chuck in the prosciutto so it can caramelize. (Which gives it a great texture, and enhances the meaty, salty flavor.)

Once it’s done, remove the caramelized prosciutto from the pan.

In order to capture some of the pan flavor, I added some mushroom sauce back in, stirred it around, and then removed it again. (But that might be one too many steps for you.)

From there, slice up finger-width chunks of the quesadilla cheese. (If you don’t have access to that, anything melty-creamy like fontina will do.)

Then in a long casserole pan, use a spoon to layer down some mushroom sauce.

Add the chicken fingers as a layer, then the prosciutto, the cheese, and then the rest of the mushroom sauce.

Bake for about 30 minutes at 350, and you will be in (unauthorized) Italian food heaven. 

Enjoy! 

Correction: a previous version of this story, (including the email newsletter,) incorrectly stated 2 cartons of chicken stock instead of 1.