Saltimbocca (which literally means "jump in mouth") has never been as tasty as with this sauce. Wrapping the chicken fillets in sheets of parma ham not only adds a lovely saltiness to the flavour of the chicken, it also seals in all the juices making the chicken really tender and succulent.
Plateful of saltimbocca, ready to jump in mouth!
Originally uploaded by Manne.
If you feel there is a lot of butter used in this dish, you are right. I have recently started following a diet called "LCHF" - Low Carb High Fat - so from here on, beware. Cutting out on the carbs and replacing them with fat has a lot of health benefits, of which perhaps the most paradoxical one is that you get rid of your overweight in a natural way. Fat and cholesterol are good for you. Read up on it, its fascinating.
Ingredients (serves 2)
For the chicken saltimbocca:
2 medium sized skinless chicken fillets
1 package of parma ham (six sheets)
2 slices of edam or Jarlsberg cheese
50 gr butter
100 ml white wine
juice of 1/2 lemon
handful of flat leaf parsley, chopped
For the tomato sauce:
10-12 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 handful of basil, chopped
200 gr of baby button mushrooms
1 can of Dolmio stir-in sauce
crushed fresh black pepper
50 gr butter
Method
Start with making the sauce since it takes the longest.
In a sauce pan, fry the onions in medium heat using half the butter until soft and translucent. Add in the other half of the butter to melt, then fry the mushrooms for five minutes or so while stirring.
Lower the heat a bit, add the tomatoes and keep frying for another ten minutes. As the tomatoes go soft, mash them a bit with a spoon to release the juices.
Lastly, add in the Dolmio sauce and the handful of basil. Let simmer for 20 minutes on low heat until really thick, more like a salsa or puree than a sauce... Season to taste with black pepper.
While the sauce is simmering away, start on the chicken. First, set your oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
Cut the slices of cheese in half, length wise, and make a "cheese sandwich" with the chicken fillet in the middle. Wrap each fillet with the parma ham (I use three sheets for each fillet, trying to seal in the cheese completely so it won't leak as it melts). This is a bit tricky, but try to get it evenly and tightly wrapped without tearing the ham.
Melt half of the butter in a frying pan on medium to high heat, and fry the saltimbocca evenly on all sides. This will take just under ten minutes or so depending on the size of the fillets, and you want them to be slightly undercooked when you are done since they will finish off in the oven.
Once nicely browned all over, transfer the fillets to a small oven proof dish.
Don't forget to check on your sauce, if it has simmered down, turn it off so it doesn't burn and then just give it a quick burst of heat later when the fillets come out of the oven.
Remove any burned cheese from your frying pan (but retain any fat and juices in there) and add in the rest of the butter. When the butter has melted and started to froth, pour in the wine and the lemon juice, season with a bit of ground black pepper. Let boil for a minute so the alcohol burns off, then pour it over the fillets in the dish.
Put dish with fillets in oven, let bake for ten to 15 minutes. When you take the fillets out, cut them open in the middle to make sure they are entirely cooked, they should be nicely white (and juicy, not dry!) all through.
Place the fillets nicely on a plate, scoop some of the juices from the oven dish on top and sprinkle with the flat leaf parsley. Scoop up some tomato sauce next to it, serve immediately.
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