Chicken Saltimbocca

Saltimbocca means, "jumps in the mouth" in Italian. It's a traditional Roman dish made with thinly, pounded veal that is lined with prosciutto and topped with a piece of sage. I made it with chicken but you can also make it with pork. Your choice of meat needs to be thin because if it is too thick, the side with the prosciutto and sage would burn because it would take too long to cook. If you don't want to do it yourself, you can buy chicken cutlets. But I highly recommend you do it yourself. It's super easy and a lot more economical. What? Did I just say that?...We do become our mothers. Hahaha!!!

I was inspired to make this dish because the sage bush in my garden is huge! I want to use as much as I can from my garden. I can slowly see that everything is coming to end and that makes me very sad.

Chicken Saltimbocca

2 chicken breasts
4 slices prosciutto
8 sage leaves
Olive oil
Pepper
Toothpicks

Place chicken breasts on a cutting board and cover with cling film. Using a rolling pin or something heavy, pound out until they are thin. You can cut them into pieces if they too big. Pepper each side. Lay a piece of prosciutto on each piece of chicken and top with a sage leaf or two. Secure with a toothpick.
Heat olive oil in a pan and add chicken in a single layer, prosciutto side down and cook until brown. With a spatula, carefully turn over and cook until brown. It should only take a minute. You want the sage to be intact. Serve.

m xo

Pork Meatballs

I love when I got to my local grocery store and there is a big selection of organic or natural meats. There are always the usual cuts of chicken like thighs and breast, but when I find beef and pork cuts, I stock up! There is nothing more frustrating than wanting to make beef stew, going to the grocery and not finding it. So I buy as much I can to fit in my little freezer.
These little meatballs were really tasty and tender. I used grated zucchini and because of that they do give off some water when they are baking. I just drained the tray halfway through and continued baking.
I served these with a yogurt sauce I threw together with what I had on hand.

Pork Meatballs

1 lb. ground pork
2 slices whole grain bread
1/4 cup almond milk
1 small zucchini, grated
1/2 shallot, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 jalapeño, minced
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 egg
2 teaspoons salt

Preheat oven to 400F.
Soak the bread in the almond milk. Wring out the grated zucchini to extract most of the water. Place all the ingredients in a bowl and mix. Form into 2 inch balls and place on a lightly greased pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes.

Yogurt Sauce

1/2 cup yogurt
a splash of lemon juice
a pinch of salt
1 teaspoon of olive oil
1 teaspoon chopped fresh mint

Mix everything and serve!

m xo