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Fellow Food Pornies! My Sunday edition of "What Can I Come Up with Today?"
I had a rare day off, and decided that housework needed to be caught up on, and I needed to cook something tasty, and comforting, whlile the weather decides which season it wants to be. So, here is my interpretation of "Prosciutto Wrapped Chicken Breasts, stuffed with Havarti and Monterray Jack Cheese and spinach, with roasted vegetables, and Mushroom Cream Sauce." Whew. Quite the title. I'll call it "Sunday Dinner". :)
All of the ingredients in one place, more or less. I grated the cheeses and mixed them, the spinach came from a package, chicken breasts cleaned and ready to go, and the rest waiting for prep as the chicken gets started without the rest of the party. I preheat the oven to 350°F.
Then, the work begins. This is a bit labour-intensive, but I had time, and the desire to make this today. The pictures will be in order of process, with simple instructions. I don't measure anything, I just create when it comes to food.
Filet the chicken breasts, then beat the crap out of them. (Yucky work). Have the prosciutto ready on the board for rolling. Place the breast on the prosciutto, add spinach and cheese, roll up, stick with a toothpick. I didn't have wooden toothpicks, but I found wooden skewers in the drawer, so I snapped them to the desire length. Be resourceful they said. It'll be fun they said. Then, in the baking dish they went, and covered with foil, baking while I prep the veggies.
I like cauliflower, a lot. So, with some carrots, and potatoes (hubby likes potatoes), some olive oil, salt and pepper, I mixed them up together like a salad. Then added them to the baking pan, and topped them off with bits of left over prosciutto. Covered with foil, and let that bake for about 30 minutes. Then, I uncovered everything to let it finished uncovered, about another 30 minutes. By now, everything was smelling great!
While the chicken is baking, it's time to make the mushroom cream sauce. It's sooooo easy. Olive oil, a little butter, mushrooms, salt and pepper. Cook this over a medium heat with a lid on, and only cook the mushrooms to tender, making sure all that juice stays in the pan. We're going to need it later. I add wine. You don't have to. Yes. That's my wine glass, courtesy of my awesome assistant. No. I didn't drink that much wine. LOL Once the mushrooms are ready, you can turn the burner off, and wait for the chicken to be done. We're getting to the cream part.
The decadent part - making a cream sauce. All that juice in the pan with the mushrooms is what gives this sauce its flavour. Turn the burner back on to medium high, add chopped garlic, if you like, and add cream. This is about one cup of cream added to the pan. Stir. Let it simmer. Stir some more. Sip some wine. It will reduce into a sublime, delicious wine sauce. No cornstarch or flour or silliness like that. While the sauce is simmering, I made a simple salad, and the chicken was ready to come out of the oven! FINALLY! I was getting hungry by now.
Oh yeah baby! MMMMMMMM. It smelled amazing, if I do say so myself! :) And just LOOK at that!!! I'm a little proud of myself here.. this experiment went well. Time to dress the plate. A bit of sauce with mushrooms, the chicken and roasted veggies. Top the chicken with more cream sauce, because it's soooooo delicious. There. The plate isn't naked anymore.
The fully dressed plate. And let me tell you.. nomnomNOMNOMnomnom. I love food.
All together, this took about 2 1/2 hours from prep to table. I don't measure, and wing it with ingredients, so I do apologize for that, but cooking is creation, and love. Those are ingredients that can't be measured, just applied, and the most important ingredients to have. I hope you've enjoyed this little display of food porn, and my love for food, especially food that's made fresh and whole. Play around with the ingredients, and tell me if you come up with variations that are fun and tasty. I honestly look forward to any input, recipes, dietary plans and suggestions, and comments. Enjoy your Sunday.
And remember.. BeYOUtiful.
Joanne Gale