Chicken Saltimbocca with Artichoke Sauce

What's not to love about chicken wrapped in prosciutto? This recipe is courtesy of Sara Moulton, but I simplified it a bit.

Makes 4 Servings
Hands-On Time: 35 Minutes
Total Preparation Time: 45 Minutes

Suggested Accompaniments
spinach sautéed with garlic chips and couscous

Ingredients
4 boneless, chicken cutlets
12 large fresh sage or basil leaves (optional)
2 to 3 oz thinly sliced prosciutto
1/3 c unbleached all-purpose flour
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
3 T extra virgin olive oil
1/3 c dry Marsala or sherry
One 14-oz can artichoke hearts
1 c Homemade Chicken Stock
T unsalted butter

Directions
Put 3 sage leaves on each chicken cutlet. Wrap a piece of prosciutto around each chicken cutlet; press until they adhere.

On a plate or in a pie dish, add the flour. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Coat the chicken in the flour, shaking off the excess.

Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over high heat until hot; reduce the heat to medium. Sauté the chicken for 2-4 minutes per side, or until the pieces are golden and just cooked through; remove them to a plate and cover them loosely with aluminum foil. Repeat with the remaining oil and chicken.

Add the Marsala to the skillet; bring it to a boil, scraping up the brown bits at the bottom of the pan, and simmer for about 1 minute, or until the pan is almost dry.

Drain and coarsely chop the artichoke hearts (about 1 1/3 cups). Add them to the skillet along with the chicken stock and simmer until reduced by half. Return the chicken to the skillet and simmer just until reheated. Add the butter to the pan and swirl until it has melted. Divide the chicken among 4 dinner plates; spoon the sauce over the chicken and serve.

My hubby and I found that there was a little too much artichoke in the sauce, so next time I think I'll add just half a can.

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Polenta Crostini with Tapenade

Here is another appetizer that I made for my jewelry party. This one also inspired by Sara Moulton, but I used my own tapenade recipe.

What You'll Need:
1 log of cooked plain polenta (I have seen this at Sweetbay Supermarket in both the pasta and produce sections. I don't remember seeing it at Publix, but some may carry it.)
a batch of tapenade

How to Make it:
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Lightly oil a rimmed baking sheet. Tirm off and discard the crinkled ends of the polenta log; cut the remaining polenta crosswise into 16 slices. Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil or butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until hot. Add as many polenta slices as will fit in one layer and saute, turning once, for about 5 minutes per side, or until crisp and browned. Remove the polenta slices to the baking sheet and keep them warm in the oven. Repeat, adding another tablespoon olive oil or butter as needed, until all the slices have been browned.

Meanwhile make the tapenade, but it is much easier to make this in advanced.

To serve, divide the tapenade among the polenta rounds.

Sorry I don't have a picture of the finished product, but there was so much going on and my guests were arriving that I totally forgot to take a pic.

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Marinated White Bean Toasts

On Saturday I hosted a Lia Shophia jewelry party. I of course had to have a few good snacks for everyone to enjoy. This one was a huge hit with my friends and is courtesy of my new Sara Moulton cookbook.

What you'll need:
1 small red onion (I suggest using less onion, unless you really like onion)
1 12-inch baguette
1/4 cup olive oil
1 garlic clove
1 (15-ounce) can small white beans
1 Tbsp, plus 1 tsp fresh oregano leaves
2 Tbsps fresh lemon juice
Kosher salt and ground black pepper

How to make it:
Place an oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Finely chop the onion (about 1/2 cup) and transfer it to a small bowl; add ice and water to cover and set it aside for 10 minutes.

Trim off and discard the ends of the baguette; cut the remaining baguette diagonally to make 24 slices. Brush both sides of the slices with 2 Tbsps of olive oil (you may need more) and arrange them on a rimmed baking sheet. Toast them for 8-10 minutes, turning once until they are golden. Remove the toasts from the oven and set aside to cool slightly. Split the garlic lengthwise. Rub the toast slices with the cut sides of the garlic.

Rinse and thoroughly drain the beans. Chop the oregano (about 2 tsps). Combine the beans, the remaining 2 Tbsps olive oil, the lemon juice, and oregano in a medium bowl. Mash with a potato masher or fork, leaving some larger pieces.

Drain the onion, pat it dry, and stir it into the bean mixture along with salt and pepper to taste. Divide the bean mixture among the toast slices and spread the mixture to the edges. (I didn't do this last part. I just put the bean mixture into a bowl with the toasts surrounding it and let my guests top the toast on their own.)

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Cooking Class with Sara Moulton

A few weeks ago I saw that the Rolling Pin Kitchen Emporium in Brandon, a big cookware store that also offers cooking classes almost daily, was hosting a special cooking class with chef Sara Moulton.

For those of you who may not be familiar with Sara she has had a long and accomplished career. If being Julia Child's sous chef isn't enough to impress you, Sara spent 10 years at The Food Network, recording 1,500 episodes with the majority of them being live shows; was the executive chef at Gourmet magazine for 25 years; hosted a PBS series called Sara's Secrets for Weeknight Meals and is still the food editor at Good Morning America. She has a new cookbook out called Sara Moulton's Everyday Family Dinners, which she made four recipes from during her class last night. Her other cookbooks include Sara's Secrets for Weeknight Meals, Sara Moulton Cooks at Home and The Good Morning America Cut the Calories Cookbook.


Her new cookbook is all about getting dinner on the table during the work week. Like most women in America, Sara finds herself coming home from work and needing to get dinner on the table quick. Her new book includes 200 recipes, mostly entrees, that will help you get out of the dinner rut. You know the rut, making the same 5-10 recipes over and over.

Sara admitted to being a lover of breakfast for dinner, much like me, so I am very happy to see the new cookbook has a chapter all about breakfast for dinner! Other chapters besides the normal poultry, meat, seafood and side dishes, include appetizers for dinner, sandwich night, spectacular salads, soup suppers, vegetarian cornucopia, five-ingredient mains, and a few more.

At her class last night, Sara demonstrated how to make her scrambled eggs and smoked salmon crepes, garlicky green beans and shitake mushrooms, chicken pot pie soup and butterscotch pudding cake. Not only was it a thrill to watch Sara and learn from her, the best part was getting to try all her dishes. They were all delicious, and me and my sweet tooth loved the dessert.

Sara was wonderful; a complete delight, very nice and down-to-earth. The class was able to ask questions and nothing was off limits. She signed a copy of everyone's cookbooks, which was included in our sign up for the class. I'm very excited to start cooking from it. Stay tuned!

Sara has a great Web site with recipes, a blog, videos and more. You can also follow her on Facebook and twitter.

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