Last time I went with my husband to our olive trees in the mountains, I found wild sage next to our grounds. So I got the idea to make a Saltimbocca dish for the weekend. I managed to take one young plant with its roots to take home and I collected some branches from an older plants.
As coincidence would have it, I watched a US road-trip TV-show that same day, showing a restaurant where they serve Chicken Saltimbocca as a role. But the cook threw the chicken roles into a deep fryer. So I thought, it should be possible to cook more healthy and I tried it out with my airfryer. But I am sure, you also can pan-fry it. Most important, that the core temperature of the role is at 90°C. So you better use a food thermometer.
The special on this role is that you wrap the role into the skin of the chicken breasts. For the filling I used Prosciutto, Pecorino cheese and… wild sage leaves. You can also use Parmigiano cheese. I used the cheese in one piece and scrapped some slices with a cheese scraper. If you do not have a cheese scraper you can try it with Parmegiano flakes or grounded cheeses.
As a filling, you can add sage to your taste; some people might not like that much of this special spice, so be careful how much you add. The first time I made this dish I didn’t consider that wild sage is much more intense than cultivated. Even though I added only four small leaves, the flavor was almost too much.
If you have a large airfryer you can make the chicken roles together with roasted potatoes.
Note: this recipe is for two persons.
What you need:
1 whole chicken breast with skin (appr. 500gr)
4 Prosciutto slices
Pecorino cheese
Sage
Salt
Pepper
2-3 fresh medium size potatoes (app. 500gr)
½ tsp sweet paprika powder
¼ tsp onion powder
¼ garlic powder
some vegetable oil (preferably olive oil)
How to prepare:
Remove the skin from the chicken breast carefully and set aside. If there still are bones attached to the meat, remove them carefully.
Separate the breasts to be two pieces and cut lengthwise with a sharp knife to make each breast one large, evenly thick filet. Add the fillets one by one into a plastic bag and proceed with a meat mallet to make evenly thin slices. Spread the slices carefully on a board.
Using a cheese scraper, scrape off several pieces of the Pecorino cheese and spread on top of the meat. Then add on each fillets two slices of Prosciutto side by side. Add some sage at the one end of the fillets and role up tightly.
Spread the chicken skin evenly on the board and cut lengthwise into halves. Wrap the roles as tightly as possible with the skin. Spray some vegetable oil over the roles. Then season with salt and pepper. Place the chicken roles into the airfryer.
Wash the skin of the potatoes with a brush under the running water tap to remove all dirt. Cut the potatoes into halves and then into cubes. Add the potatoes in a large bowl.
Add appr. 1 Tbsp of vegetable oil, season with salt, sweet paprika powder, onion powder and garlic powder. Mix well.
Place the the potatoes next to the chicken roles into the airfryer.
Cook at 195°C for 30-40 minutes or until the meat has reached the core temperature of 90°C, using a cooking thermometer to controll.
Shake the potatoes at least once after app. 15 minutes of the cooking time to brown evenly. If necessary repeat while checking on the meat’s temperature.