Saltimboca - Chicken and Prosciutto with a Sherry sauce

I don't remember where I found this recipe — it may in fact be something that I created after eating the real thing at a restaraunt one night.

The two tricks to this are getting the prosciutto to stay on the chicken, and breading the whole thing. This is solved by lightly pounding the prosciutto slices onto the chicken breasts with a meat mallet.

The sauce is too easy, and a little mozzerella melted on top finishes the dish of wonderfully.

Of course, traditional Saltimboca is a veal dish, but we can't eat veal because baby cows are so durn cute. Chickens (and grown up cows, for that matter) are not cute, so we can cook them instead.

Here is the recipe for four people.

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves.
• 4 slices of Prosciutto (italian dry cured ham)
• ½ C flour
• 1 - 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 C seasoned bread crumbs (or plain bread crumbs — you can season them yourself.
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• ½ C cooking sherry (or any mediocre sherry that you wouldn't be saving to drink)
• 2 tsp ground sage
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4 slices Mozzerella cheese

Make Chicken

Place one slice of prosciutto on top of each chicken breast, and lightly burnish them with a meat mallet to adhere the prosciutto to the chicken.

Dredge each chicken breast witht he prosciutto in the flour to coat it lightly.

Dip each floured breast in the beaten egg to coat it thoroughly, then dredge it in the seasoned breadcrumbs to cover completely.

Melt the butter and olive oil together in a large heavy skillet and cook the breaded chicken breasts until just cooked through, browning on both sides.

Remove the chicken to a separate dish and keep warm.

Deglaze the skillet with the sherry, and add the sage, salt and pepper. Allow the sherry to cook down some, the sauce should thicken from the flour and breadcrumbs left in the pan.

Top each chicken breast with a slice of mozzerella cheese, and return them to the skillet to heat again.

Plate each chicken breast with rice pilaf or a light pasta, and drizzle with the sherry sauce.