Chicken Suitcases Perugina

I feel like I'm getting sick. I really, really, really hope that isn't the case, but I'm feeling worse as the day progresses which is not a good sign. :( I'm trying to take it easy and drink a lot of water in the hopes that I can ward off whatever is trying to infect me.

Anyway, this was a contender for dinner on Friday night, but I forgot to get chicken out in time. I have some prosciutto left that I don't want to go to waste, so I want to use it sooner than later so I don't forget about it and end up having to throw it out. There was a similar recipe that sounded good, but it calls for white wine, and well, we drank all the white wine in our house last night. So by process of elimination, this is what we're going to have.


Chicken Suitcases Perugina
Recipe #102359

8 (3 ounce) boneless skinless chicken breasts, thinned
8 slices prosciutto (very thin slices)
8 ounces mozzarella cheese, cut into 8 slices
salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup marsala wine or chicken broth
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons minced parsley

Pound chicken between plastic wrap to thin (about 1/8 inch thick). Top each piece of chicken with a slice of prosciutto and a piece of cheese. Fold the chicken over to completely enclose the prosciutto and cheese and secure with toothpicks. Sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper. Dredge chicken packages in flour. Heat butter and oil in a large skillet and brown chicken packages on both sides until golden. Transfer chicken to a plate. Add the Marsala or broth to the skillet and stir to release the browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Add lemon juice and parsley. Increase heat and cook sauce for 1 minute until slightly thickened. Remove toothpicks from chicken and return to skillet and heat through.

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I have monterey jack cheese, not mozzarella, but I think that will be fine. I bought some mushroom risotto at Trader Joe's that we're going to have as a side and probably some green beans as our vegetable. My frozen vegetable supply is running low, but I've waaaaaay overspent on my groceries recently, so I'm trying to avoid a trip to the store and base my meal plan for the coming week on what we have here.

*****

Wow, wow, wow! These were fantastic!!! The husband's friend Matt ended up eating dinner with us, and we all loved it! The chicken breasts I had were huge and took forever to defrost, so I was in a hurry to get them assembled and forgot to salt and pepper them. Instead I mixed it in with the flour. Really I think you could skip the salt. I minced up a few garlic cloves and threw them in the pan after the butter had melted. I tell you--there are few things that smell better than garlic being sauteed in butter/olive oil. Since my pieces of chicken were so insanely huge I covered the pan to speed up the cooking time. Oh, and toothpicks or something to hold the chicken together are a MUST. I was being cocky and didn't think I'd need them, but when I went to turn the chicken, they started to unroll. I looked all over my kitchen for some toothpicks or bamboo skewers--something that would hold them together. All I could find was kitchen twine, which worked well enough. I would definitely make these again--they were fantastic!!