This is a recipe that only slightly resembles the inspirational dish from Buca Di Beppo – we’ve tweaked it over the years and it’s become its own thing – its own tasty, can’t get enough-of-it thing. It’s our go-to thing.
Ingredients:
- 2 Chicken breasts
- 4 T seasoned flour (see below)
- 4 T fresh chopped sage
- 2-4 thin slices prosciutto, pancetta or capicola (cured ham)
- 2 T butter
- 1 T EVOO
- 2 T capers
- 2 T fresh squeezed lemon juice
- 1/4 C white wine
- 1/2 C heavy cream
Take the chicken breasts,urn them over (smooth side down) and slice them down to about 1/2” thick (you can also pound them out, but this seems to work better because they don’t puff back out).
pro tip: we keep a heavy freezer bag at the ready and then dice up the portions we slice off the breast – toss them into the bag and into the freezer. After 2 – 3 Saltimbocca dishes, you’ll have enough chicken chunks in the freezer bag for an easy mid-week stir-fry meal.
Put the flour on a plate or in a shallow bowl and season with salt, pepper and some cayenne pepper. Mix together.
With the chicken still “good side” down, sprinkle with the chopped sage. Now, lay a slice or two of the cured ham over the breast (you don’t want it thick, but covering the whole breast), and secure loosely with a toothpick or two (any of the cured ham listed above is great – we we tend to like the spicier capicola best).
Now, dredge the chicken breasts on both sides in the seasoned flour. Get a heavy skillet up to medium-high heat and add 1 T of the butter and the EVOO – get good and hot. Add the chicken ham side down and brown until the cured meat is good and crisp. Flip over and cook on the other side until nicely browned then remove from the pan onto your cutting board. Reduce the heat and deglaze the pan with the white wine, scraping up all the tasty brown bits. Add in the lemon juice, capers and cream and stir – bring to a boil and slightly reduce, then add the last 1 T of butter to finish the sauce.
Pull the toothpicks from the chicken and set on your plate and smother with the sauce. We serve ours with rice pilaf and bourbon glazed carrots. We dare you not to smile after you take a bite!
