Chicken and Eggplant Saltimbucca

This dish was a last minute idea when hosting family at our new house for the first time. We wanted it to be something that would be a crowd pleaser, but also we love to impress with food so we did not want to lack creativity. It turned out GREAT and paired so well with the prosciutto and shallot parmesan risotto and loaded caesar. If your crowd doesn’t like eggplant you can omit.

Ingredients:

8 pieces of thin chicken cutlets

8 thin/ peeled slices of eggplant

8 slices of prosciutto

8 slices of gouda or gruyere and 8 slices of mozzarella; or you can just use 16 slices of mozzarella deli style

1 egg

Bread crumbs

Flour

Mushrooms - you can use oyster, button or portobello

Spinach - about 2 cups

Salt and pepper

Parsley

Dry sage powder

8 sage leaves

Sauce:

2 tbsp of butter

1 shallot minced

1 tbsp of flour

1/2 bottle of marsala wine about 2 cups

1 cup of chicken stock

Pepper

Instructions:

For sauce:

Add butter to pan

Sauté minced shallot until translucent

Add flour and mix well until no clumps

Add wine

Reduce to about half

Add chicken stock and pepper

Simmer until ready to use

In a pan slightly cook your mushrooms in a little olive oil and salt, reserve until ready to use. These will be cooked in oven so try not to overcook, just about 3 minutes.

Chicken:

In a pan add some olive oil and turn to medium high heat

Take a piece of chicken lightly salt and pepper

Dip chicken in some flour and then wrap in a piece of prosciutto

Place chicken in pan seam side of prosciutto down and cook about 2-3 minutes per side until prosciutto begins to brown and chicken is slightly golden on outside and place on cutting board when done. Once chicken is done move onto eggplant.

Eggplant:

Take a piece of eggplant

Dip in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs

Lightly fry in some oil on both sides til golden brown. Add to a cutting board

*One thing I like to do with my eggplant is before I bread it, I slightly bake it in the oven about 5 minutes at 350. Sometimes I feel the eggplant takes extra long to cook thru and ends up still tasting raw in dishes. This is just my little trick to make sure my eggplant is soft and cooked thru.

Assembly:

In your baking dish (you may need two) Place a piece of chicken, a sage leaf, then top with a slice of eggplant, and two slices of cheese. If using gruyere or smoked gouda I add once slice of that and one slice of mozzarella. Add your mushrooms and spinach around the chicken. Pour your sauce over top.

Cover & cook @350 for 15 minutes

Uncover and cook an additional 5 minutes