Chicken Linda

This past weekend was Garden State/Bucks and Trenton Dog Show weekend. It is by far, one of my most favorite dog show weekends ever.   The highlight of the weekend is The Trenton Lunch-Capital T, Capital T and Capital L.  The most magnificent food is provided by Linda Buonauro and set up by me....

There is usually some lovely leftovers, they come home with me. On Monday I make Chicken Linda.  Chicken Linda is a recipe designed by RC Carusi and it's simple and  simply luscious.

What you need

1-2 chicken breast pounded thin, I also cut them in half.  I do one chicken breast per person
2 pieces of prosciutto per piece of chicken (2 chicken breast-8 pieces of prosciutto)
Fresh mozzarella
Roasted red peppers.

To Make

Cook your chicken breast until they are almost done. I use the method that The Kitchen has for cooking perfect chicken breast.  Click here for the link.  I cut the time down by about 4 minutes as the chicken has to go back into the pan. I also omit the salt as the prosciutto is salty enough.

While the chicken breast is cooking, take your prosciutto and lay it in a cross pattern, place a piece of fresh muzz on the prosciutto and top that with some roasted red pepper.When the chicken is done, place your chicken on top of the red pepper and muzz and fold over the prosciutto.  

In a hot skillet, place your chicken in the pan, muzz side down.   This is one of the times I use a non stick skillet, I want a hot pan with a little oil in it. Heat the pan, add a little vegetable oil,(not olive oil) just enough to coat the bottom of the pan. I don't want the chicken to stick to the pan,. You will cook the chicken for a 2-3 minutes per side to  melt the muzz and crisp up the prosciutto. The heat should be a low/medium heat,but watch your skillet to monitor the temperature.You may need a little more or little less time depending on the heat/thickness of the chicken.  You don't want to overcook your chicken and overcooked prosciutto is a crispy salty waste of good prosciutto.

I served this with an Israeli couscous pilaf, some steamed broccoli and a nice Pinot Grigot for dinner.   You can also add a little pesto the the packet if you have it, I've made it both ways, but prefer the more simple version. A little pasta with pesto on the side would be good too!