In this video, learn how to make Chef John's exquisite Chicken Saltimbocca with this step-by-step cooking tutorial. Follow along as Chef John shares his secret tips and techniques to create this classic Italian dish bursting with flavors. From pan-searing succulent chicken to delicately wrapping it in prosciutto and sage leaves, discover the magic of combining these ingredients into an authentic masterpiece.
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00:00 Hello, this is Chef John from FoodWishes.com with Chicken Saltimbocca!
00:08 That's right, we used to make this amazing dish with veal.
00:12 But then we made a deal with the baby cows to only eat their tougher older relatives.
00:17 But beef is not a great choice here, so these days we use pork instead.
00:21 Or how we're going to do it in this video with chicken breast, which might be my favorite
00:26 way to go.
00:27 And to get started, we're going to want to pound our chicken breast out nice and flat.
00:31 And for that, I like to cut open a zip-top bag, which I just find a lot easier than plastic
00:36 wrap.
00:37 But, of course, you're not going to be able to use the bag again, and the plastic wrap
00:40 is cheaper.
00:41 So you'll have to decide.
00:43 I mean, you are after all the boss scags of wasting bags.
00:47 But either way, we'll place a boneless, skinless chicken breast down with the smooth side up.
00:52 And we'll use one of these meat-pounding mallets.
00:54 Or really, anything heavy and flat.
00:57 And we'll pound our chicken breast out somewhere between a quarter inch and a half inch thick.
01:02 Which I believe if we do the math, is three-eighths of an inch.
01:05 And once we've done that to two breasts, we'll go ahead and season this up with a little
01:09 bit of salt and some freshly ground black pepper.
01:13 And we really don't want to put too much here, just a light sprinkling.
01:17 And you're probably thinking, "Aren't you the guy that tells us to generously season
01:20 things?"
01:21 Well, that is true.
01:22 But because we're going to pan fry this with prosciutto attached, which tends to be pretty
01:26 salty, we want to be careful with how much we put on at this point.
01:30 So we will season that lightly on both sides.
01:33 And then we'll turn that back over so the smooth side's facing up.
01:37 At which point it's time to apply our sage leaves.
01:40 And regarding that, we're going to have two major decisions to make.
01:43 One would be how much to put.
01:45 Okay, you could go with as little as one leaf.
01:48 Or like I'm going to do, three or four leaves for almost total coverage.
01:52 And then the second big decision would be whether to put the sage down first, and then
01:57 put our parma ham over the top, or lay our prosciutto down first, and then put our sage
02:02 leaves on top of that.
02:04 And as you can see, I'm a sage first kind of guy.
02:06 And as we move forward, I will explain the differences in the final product.
02:11 But anyway, once I've applied my sage, I'm going to go ahead and cover that with one
02:15 thin slice of prosciutto.
02:17 And if that's big enough to cover everything, then great.
02:19 That's all we need.
02:20 But usually, I'll take another slice and tear off some additional pieces and use that on
02:25 spots that need a little more coverage.
02:28 And what I like about this method is that once this is frying in the pan, that sage
02:32 gets cooked between the chicken and the ham.
02:35 And I find the flavor permeates everything a lot better and more intensely.
02:38 Okay, if you use the other method where you put the ham down first and then the sage on
02:42 top, what's going to happen is that sage leaf's going to fry kind of crisp, which I will admit
02:47 looks cool.
02:48 But when you fry sage crisp, you do lose a lot of the flavor.
02:52 So if you've never done this before, you might have to try it both ways and see which one
02:55 you like more.
02:57 But either way, once the sage and ham have been applied, we'll cover this with a piece
03:01 of plastic wrap and give everything a nice firm pressing down.
03:05 And then if possible, I like to pop this in the fridge for about a half hour, just so
03:09 everything's nice and cold and firm when it hits the pan.
03:12 But that is optional.
03:13 And if you're starving, just go ahead and cook it up now.
03:16 And to do that, we'll heat up some olive oil in a pan set over medium high heat.
03:20 And we will carefully place our chicken breast and prosciutto side down.
03:25 And what we'll do is let this sear for about three minutes before we go ahead and turn
03:28 it over.
03:29 And because that prosciutto is so thin and fairly fatty, our sage leaves are kind of
03:34 frying underneath the surface, which as I mentioned, really does permeate the chicken
03:38 with a lot of flavor.
03:40 And as great as this is eventually going to taste, the aroma you're going to get in your
03:44 kitchen when you do this is just beyond amazing.
03:47 Okay, it really is one of the best things you'll ever smell.
03:50 And then once we have that turned over, we'll give the other side two or three minutes or
03:55 until our chicken is safely cooked through.
03:57 And I guess you could try to use a thermometer, but the meat is so thin that's going to be
04:01 kind of challenging.
04:03 So I usually just give it the old polka polka to see how it feels.
04:07 Since undercooked chicken feels kind of soft and mushy, whereas chicken that's just cooked
04:11 through will spring back to the touch.
04:14 So I gave mine a test and it was feeling just about perfect.
04:18 And once it does, we'll turn off the heat and we'll remove that chicken to a plate and
04:23 loosely cover it with foil while we move on to an optional, but absolutely amazing pan
04:28 sauce, which we'll do by adding a small splash of Marsala wine to our pan along with the
04:33 juice of half a lemon and we'll turn our heat back on to medium high and also toss in a
04:39 nice splash of chicken broth.
04:41 And then what we'll do is cook all this for a few minutes or until our liquid reduces
04:45 by about half.
04:46 Okay, we could reduce it more, but I really don't want an overly thick, rich sauce.
04:51 All right, this is a fairly decadent dish, so I tend to keep the texture of the sauce
04:56 on the lighter side.
04:57 Oh, by the way, if you don't have Marsala, you could just use a splash of white wine
05:02 or no wine, but the Marsala does give it a nice little subtle hint of sweetness, which
05:07 I think pairs perfectly with the other ingredients.
05:10 But anyway, like I said, we'll reduce that by about half, at which point we'll reduce
05:14 our heat to the lowest setting.
05:16 And if we have some, which we will, we'll pour any accumulated juices from the plate
05:20 back into the pan.
05:22 And then to finish this sauce, we'll simply add a couple of chunks of cold butter and
05:26 then stir and or swirl the pan until the butter disappears.
05:30 And like I said, this is optional.
05:33 Many versions of Saltimbocca are just served as is, with just the pan dripping spooned
05:37 over with maybe some fresh lemon on the side.
05:40 But I really do think a simple sauce like this, which only takes a couple minutes, really
05:43 does elevate everything and makes for a much more luxurious experience.
05:49 And that's it.
05:50 Once our sauce is set, we can go ahead and pull that off the heat and we will serve up
05:54 our chicken Saltimbocca, ideally next to some cold, crisp acidic salad.
05:59 And we'll go ahead and spoon over a very generous amount of our sauce.
06:03 Not only do we want plenty to swipe our bites of chicken in, but it's also fantastic soaked
06:08 up with some nice crusty bread, which I had none of, which made me especially kind of
06:13 sad.
06:14 All right, there's regular sad, and then there's not having any bread for something like this
06:18 sad.
06:19 But anyway, I finished up with some fresh lemon.
06:22 And after squeezing a little bit of that on, I grabbed a fork and knife and went in for
06:26 a taste.
06:27 And that my friends is the name clearly states, "Jumps in your mouth."
06:31 Oh yeah, that's what Saltimbocca translates to.
06:35 And it's actually a law when you do a Saltimbocca video that you must tell people what it means.
06:40 And for such a simple dish, that's so fast and easy to put together, that only involves
06:45 a couple of ingredients, we produce something that's very, very complex and just next level
06:50 flavorful.
06:51 I mean, if we're being honest, boneless skinless chicken breasts are not the most exciting
06:56 thing to work with.
06:58 But by simply adding a few leaves of sage and a little bit of that salty, super savory
07:02 ham and then searing it in the pan as shown, we end up with something I think we could
07:07 describe as very, very exciting.
07:10 And that is true even if you don't make the pan sauce.
07:13 But as you saw, that was super fast and easy to do.
07:16 So why wouldn't you do that also?
07:19 And if you do, seriously, have some bread around.
07:21 Although I am doing a good job of getting as much of that off the plate as I can with
07:24 the chicken.
07:25 And no, that is not just a prop salad.
07:29 Some sliced radish and bitter greens like arugula, dressed with something acidic like
07:33 lemon juice or vinegar, is a perfect palate refresher in between bites.
07:38 And that combination is so incredible, I didn't even miss not having any carbs, allegedly.
07:45 But whether you do the pan sauce or not, or whether you serve this sand starch, saltimbocca,
07:50 no matter what meat you use, is one of the world's most delicious things to eat.
07:55 Which is why I really do hope you give this a try soon.
07:59 So please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts, a printable written recipe, and much
08:04 more info as usual.
08:07 And as always, enjoy!
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