Thursday, September 10, 2009

Chicken Saltimbocca Pasta Toss - Bakespace International Cooking Tour



When Saltimbocca was decided for the Coast to Coast Challenge I thought I'd sit it out. You see, I believe I have really perfected this dish and I didn't want to alter it. Steve loves it, our friends and family love it. I make it often and already blogged about it. Check out my post here. However, this challenge (or is it cook off?) has gone international and I didn't want to miss out on the fun. I thought that I could make this dish a one pot pasta dish and instead of serving the spinach on the side I would toss it in. So, I did it and you guessed it, it was meant to be! This dinner was fabulous, so fabulous in fact that I couldn't help laughing at how good (and easy) it was. I know, I'm a dork but I just felt SO good about it.

This is almost identical to my other recipe so I'm probably just going to do a little copy and paste but that's why it's so great, I didn't change the recipe, it's just new! Now I know I said this is a one pot dish but consider that I need lots of garlic in my spinach (yes Dad...Garlic...we're Italian...embrace it) so instead of just tossing it in at the end (which you could absolutely do) I decided to saute it separately in garlic and oil and toss it in already cooked. I think it added great flavor.

Chicken Saltimbocca Pasta Toss

Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts, cut into chunks or strips
5 slices of prosciutto di Parma, sliced into strips
4 cloves garlic, sliced
1 cup marsala wine
1 cup all purpose flour
wondra flour
approx. 2 cups chicken stock
salt and pepper
fresh sage
4-5 tbsp butter (can be adjusted or substiuted with oil)
extra virgin olive oil
1 pound cellantani pasta or any short tubular pasta will do
spinach, prepared (see below) or one bag of fresh spinach

Directions:

1. Season all purpose flour with salt and pepper and stir to combine. Lightly dredge chicken into flour shaking off excess. Melt 2 tbs butter and 1 tbsp oil into a large hot pan. Sauté chicken over medium high heat until nicely browned, remove from pan and set aside for later.






2. In the same pan sauté 4 cloves garlic adding more butter or oil if the pan is dry. After a minute or so add the prosciuto slices and let them crisp up. Add a few torn leaves of fresh sage. Toss garlic and prosciutto together and then add marsala wine and use a wooden spoon to scrape up any brown bits in the pan. Let liquid reduce to about half. Add chicken stock and cook for about 10 minutes until reduced a bit. At this point you can add some more sage to infuse the flavor into the liquid. Sprinkle in wondra flour a little at a time and stir after each addition until you get the the thickness you like. You want the sauce to coat the back of a spoon. Once desired consistency is reached add cooked chicken and any accumulated juices into the sauce.


3. Meantime cook pasta in boiling salted water until al dente. (If cooking the spinach prepare now as it only takes minutes to cook.) Drain pasta and add to the pan with the sauce and toss, add spinach and toss.







Sautéed Spinach

Ingredients:

1 bag spinach
4 cloves garlic cracked
extra virgin olive oil
salt

Directions:

Sauté garlic in oil until it begins to lighly brown, add in the spinach and toss so it gets coated with oil. Add more oil if needed, season with salt (and pepper if you like) and once wilted it's done.

There have been some exciting additions to our coast to coast challenges! For one, we have gone international and second, DD of DDpie's Slice has been kind enough to make us a bakespace map. Click on the map to go on our International Saltimbocca Cooking Tour! It's so interesting to see how creative the Bakespace members are. Each recipe is different so you'll be sure to find AT LEAST one you like! On the map, you can choose a location on the left hand pane or you can click on a marker on the map. When the pic of the dish pops up, click on it and it will take you to that person's blog. Hope you have fun on our International Tour!



11 comments:

DDpie said...

Nice Shels! I'm so glad you didn't sit this one out...see there, LOVIN' the unique method/dish you brought to the potluck table!

Danielle said...

I'm so glad you decided to not sit this one out!!! Woo Hoo! I love how you chopped it up and tossed it together. I think I'm going to use that method next time :)

Spryte said...

Yay!! I'm so glad you played too!! I linked to both of your recipes... or both versions of your recipe.. hehe....

That looks awesome!!!

Culinary Alchemist said...

I am SO glad that you decided to join in on this one.. and it looks awesome!!! I love the presentation as a pasta dish... Inspired!

Dajana said...

It's great how you managed to twist it using the same ingredients and yet create something new.
I'm glad you joined in in the end.

Jade said...

I love chicken saltimbocca. This is such a fun twist on the original!

matt74 said...

Michele another great recipe from you...I love your blog and this was a lot of fun..can't wait to do it again

Cathy said...

Great looking recipe, Michele. You and Dajana are my Italian inspirations. Such good food!

teresa said...

this looks so light and yummy! i love that curly pasta!

Bradley said...

Thank you so much for this recipe. I used to work at a restaurant called Cody's Cafe in Portland, OR which served a dish similar to this. It was my absolute favorite. Instead of chicken stock, they used a veal reduction. Can't wait to try this.

Lynnette Moore said...

I had a very similar dish in NJ and found your recipe and made it tonight! Delicious, brings back a lot of memories! Nettie from Moore Or Less Cooking