When The Silver Spoon's English translation first hit bookshops in 2005, I leafed through it and thought that it was perhaps the most tedious and uninspiring cookbook on the market. I couldn't understand how this could be a classic.
Almost three years later I found myself leafing through a copy in Waterstones--mainly because their Italian section was absolutely dire--and nodding thoughtfully at many a recipe. Perhaps my tastes have undergone a marked change in the last few years? I didn't think they had, other than my new-found love of both fresh fennel and fennel seed. At any rate, I'm now a big fan of The Silver Spoon, especially this recipe: Involtini di Pollo alla Salvia, or, chicken and sage rolls, wrapped in pancetta.
I love the sheer simplicity of this recipe; to me it encapsulates what Italian food is all about. Great ingredients, treated simply.. yielding amazing results. Plus, surely any recipe that includes pancetta has to be gorgeous?
This is a very friendly recipe; it'll cosy up to just about any carb that you care to pair it with. Previously I've tried some buttery little new potatoes, and also a carrot and swede mash. This time round I decided to do a roasted butternut squash purée (spiked with a little grated nutmeg) which worked really well with the smokiness of the pancetta. The green beans and squiggle of balsamic glaze balanced things out nicely.
Involtini di Pollo alla Salvia
Source: The Silver Spoon
2 skinless, boneless, chicken breasts
8 fresh sage leaves
salt and freshly ground pepper
8 thin slices of smoked pancetta
2 teaspoons olive oil
Place each chicken breast between two sheets of clingfilm and pound with a meat mallet or rolling pin to flatten. Season both sides with salt and pepper.
Place four sage leaves across the width of each breast and roll up tightly.
Lay out four slices of pancetta--slightly overlapping--and roll the chicken in that. You can secure the ends with some cocktail sticks if you want, but I've never had any problems with it unrolling.
Heat the oil in a medium frying pan over medin-high heat. Brown the rolls--seam side down first to prevent unrolling--on all sides. Turn the heat to low, cover, and cook for 15 to 20 minutes until done (add a little water of the pan dries out).
Remove the chicken to a board and allow to rest for a few minutes before carving each breast into three pieces. (If you secured with cocktail sticks then remember to take them out before carving!)
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Comments
This looks delicious! I am a huge fan of the Silver Spoon!
1. Posted by Chris on March 30, 2008
this is a beautiful dish! Nice job
2. Posted by marye on April 3, 2008
Wow the pictures in your blog are amazing, so clean and really really cool. I am a big fan of food pictures and read a lot of blogs around the world to see some of the better ones like these. I personally think there are poeple out there taking better and more interesting pics than the ones you see in cookbooks etc, at least you know that they are all real! I started as a food blogger a year ago as well and have just set up a site called www.ifoods.tv to share photos, videos, recipes and meet other foodies around the world. Its like a social network for foodies an dit allows bloggers to show off their photos to a much bigger audience and drive traffic back to their blogs! I love your photos and if you are interested in sharing them would love to see them on the site! If not don't worry about it and keep up the fantastic work on the blog! Have grabbed your feed so will be a regular reader from now on anyway! Cheer!
3. Posted by Niall Harbison on April 22, 2008