Eat.Live.Blog.

If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, there is a chance you heard me bragging about this dinner the other night. I believe what I said was “the dinner I made tonight was insane! I still have the flavors dancing on my tongue.” Now, that may seem a little dramatic, but wait until you make this dinner, you’ll get it…

I put out an SOS to Twitter for dinner ideas involving chicken cutlets, and Lena mentioned she was making America’s Test Kitchen’s Chicken Saltimbocca that evening. That was all the inspiration I needed! My recipe formed in my head as I mentally took inventory of what I had in my kitchen. Unfortunately that inventory did not include sage or prosciutto, which is how we ended up with “Kind-of Chicken Saltimbocca”.

For some reason my mind would not let go of serving my dinner with spicy fries, even though I was confused about the combination, and not sure it would work. Maybe it is just because I have habaneros on the brain. But boy did it ever work! This is a dinner I will be remembering for a long, long time, you know, the kind that makes you sad when it is gone…

Kind-of Chicken Saltimbocca

Click here for printable recipe

Ingredients:

• 5 or 6 chicken cutlets
• Paprika
• Adobo Seasoning (or seasoning salt if you don’t have Adobo)
• Pepper
• 4 oz Cream Cheese (I used reduced fat)
• 10 oz frozen spinach (thawed and squeezed of excess juice)
• 1 large garlic clove (peeled)
• 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 14oz Chicken Broth
• You will also need toothpicks (woods, not plastic)

Directions:

• In a food processor or blender, combine spinach, cream cheese and garlic clove
• Pulse until well mixed
• Sprinkle both sides of each chicken cutlet with paprika, Adobo and pepper (use your judgement in how much seasoning you like)
• Take 1 heaping tablespoon of spinach mixture and place it at the beginning of one long end of a cutlet.
• Roll the cutlet over the spinach until you get to the other end of the cutlet
• Secure this end with a toothpick
• Close both sides of the chicken roll-up using a toothpick for each side
• Heat olive oil in a large frying pan with high sides
• When oil is hot, add chicken rolls
• Brown chicken rolls on each side, about 3 – 5 minutes
• Add chicken broth and lemon juice to the pan
• Use a wooden spoon to stir up any of the brown bits from the bottom of the pan
• Bring to a boil
• Cover and allow to boil slowly for 20 minutes
• Remove chicken from pan. Place on a plate and cover with foil
• With lid removed, allow sauce to boil rapidly for about 5 -10 minutes or until it has reduced to half (make sure to keep an eye on it and stir frequently)
• Remove the toothpicks from your chicken rolls
• Plate chicken with sauce drizzled over the top, and extra sauce on the side

Spicy Fries

Ingredients:

• 2 large Idaho Potatoes (washed well)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 habanero (washed, seeds removed, sliced)
• 1 garlic clove (peeled and diced)
• 1/2 tsp Adobo Seasoning (or seasoning salt)
• 1/2 tsp Pepper
• 1/2 tsp Paprika

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees
• Cut potatoes into shoe-string sized fries
• Rinse potatoes well
• Place cut potatoes, habaneros and garlic in a bowl or a large ziplock bag
• Drizzle olive oil over potatoes
• In a bowl, mix together the seasonings
• Sprinkle seasoning mixture over the potatoes
• Mix everything very well (or shake if using a bag)
• Place potatoes in a 2 quart casserole pan
• Bake for 15 minutes, stir and repeat until potatoes are desired “doneness”
• Cooking time will depend on the cut of your potato and the dish you use, but should take about 40 minutes
• I give mine a 5 minute broil at the end to make them crispier. If you do this, make sure to keep an eye on them because they will burn fast!