Chicken Prosciutto Rolls

Delicious moist chicken with a fragrant nutty, spinach filling – all rolled in crispy prosciutto. 

Another perfect Belinda Jeffery recipe.  I love serving it warm with lots of luscious vegies covering the plate.  Also a few months ago, I included this dish in my Diner en Blanc menu because of the lovely flavours and it could be eaten cold and was so easy to transport.  Definitely one to remember and include in an alfresco picnic or a hot summer’s day luncheon – and could work with so many salad combinations.

Serves  4.    Makes 2 chicken rolls - half per person.

Times   Times are approx. for a first attempt.  If familiar with techniques, prep times will be much faster.

Preparation 20 minutes plus 20 minutes    Chill 30 minutes   Cook 30 minutes   Cool down 15 minutes

Ingredients

2 large skinless chicken breast fillets. 

80 gram of herb and garlic cream cheese. (Boursin brand if available).

Option:  Make your own using some spreadable cream cheese, mixed with some very finely chopped garlic and herbs – add slowly for your taste preference -  and dash of salt.

2 handfuls of baby spinach leaves – stems removed

Pinenuts – toasted.  Cool before adding.   Not many – just to give some crunch, maybe 1/8 cup.

Some of the toasted pinenuts can be reserved for final garnish if desired

Salt and Pepper – to your taste.

10 - 12 large slices of prosciutto.  I trim a little of the fat off  - although Belinda Jeffery does not.

Method

Chicken: Place the 2 chicken fillets – boned side up facing you (and spaced apart  - because later the lower paper will assist you in rolling) -  between 2 pieces of baking paper and gently pound with a rolling pin until about 4 mm thick. 

Remove the upper paper from the top of the chicken, i.e. the boned side.

Spread the top of the chicken with the herb cheese.

Top with half of spinach leaves and a sprinkle of pine nuts. Reserve some nuts for garnish if desired.

Using the bottom paper as an aid (cut paper in half if necessary to do the 2 rolls separately), roll the chicken up like a jam roll – that means the longer edge of the rectangle is rolling over with the filling creating a spiral shape as it is being rolled up.  Keep rolling process as firm as you can.  The paper helps you keep it rolling firm – but not necessary to squeeze hard. Tuck any bits back in as you go.

Keep the formed chicken rolls in their baking paper to help maintain the rolled shape. Refrigerate whilst you get to work on the next step.  The chicken is raw.

For the Prosciutto wrapping layer:

On a large cutting board – put a piece of foil  large enough to later completely enclose one chicken roll onto the board and then cover the foil with same sized piece of baking paper. 

This step will be repeated for the second chicken roll .

From left to right, layer 4 – 6 slices of prosciutto with the long sides slightly overlapping on top (check against the length of your chicken roll to see how many slices you will need)

Halve the remaining spinach leaves because you will be repeating these processes for the second chicken roll. Set one half aside for the second chicken rolling process.

Using one of these halved spinach amounts - Place most of the spinach leaves in a row across prosciutto – top to bottom.

Unwrap one chicken roll and place on top of the spinach leaves so it sits across all prosciutto layers.

Cover with a few more spinach leaves.

Using the baking paper underneath the prosciutto layer as a guide, roll up the chicken in the prosciutto to make a neat parcel.  You need to roll it so you can see the slices of overlapped prosciutto covering the chicken. Then roll it so it is all encased in the baking paper.

Now roll the filled baking paper roll up in the foil to fully enclose it for the baking stage.  Twist the foil ends tightly to resemble a bon-bon. 

Repeat process for the second chicken roll.

Chill both rolls immediately upon wrapping with foil as chicken is still raw.  Chill min. 30 minutes.

Baking:

Preheat oven to 180 o C.

Using a baking tray with a narrow lip, sit the foil wrapped rolls apart and bake 30 minutes.

Although Belinda Jeffery does not say to do this – I unwrap the cooked rolls and return to the oven for 5 mins just to crisp up the prosciutto a little bit – up to you – unwrap the rolls and see what you prefer to do. 

You will need to re-wrap the baked rolls.

Remove from oven, still in the foil, and allow to rest and firm up for 10 – 15 minutes.

Unwrap the rolls, and with a sharp knife cut into rounds for serving. If you are transporting them or planning on serving cold later, an option could be to leave them wrapped until needed and slice later.

You can cut them into thin slices as I did for Diner en Blanc, but be careful not to go too thin or they will collapse and break apart.

Garnish with remaining toasted pine nuts if desired.

Serving Options

Delicious with salads. 

I have also served it warm with a serving of mixed warm grilled asparagus tossed with crisp green beans, charred slices of red capsicum, roasted pumpkin pieces, baby spinach leaves, herbs, toasted pine nuts and a teaspoon of remaining Boursin cheese melted through.

Belinda Jeffery suggests serving it with her sautéed yellow capsicums and basil.

                                           Enjoy!                                                     Colleen