Chicken Rolled with Le Gruyère & Sage

For those of you who have an iPhone, I highly recommend downloading the "Whole Foods Recipe" app. That is where I found this delicious recipe. The app allows you to browse recipes based on food preferences and categories, save favorites, and even create shopping lists. And I would probably eat almost everything the app suggests.

Now that my little promo for Whole Foods is over, onto the meal...

This dish has such a rich taste, from the sage to the pan sauce to the wine-soaked shallots, every element of this dish is punched with flavor. And while it may sound a little complicated, I assure you it's pretty easy to make!

Ingredients (serves 2)

2 large boneless, skinless chicken breast (thin sliced)

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Small block Le Gruyère cheese, thinly sliced

Fresh sage leaves

2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 shallot, thinly sliced

1/2 cup dry white wine

Although I try to do most of my cooking on a budget, I don't mind splurging once in a while to try to make something I've never had before. The splurge in this recipe was the cheese. Le Gruyère cost me about $6.99 for a medium sized wedge, but I had never tried this cheese so I was able to justify the cost. And I already had most of the other ingredients in my pantry anyway. Also, where I splurged on cheese, I saved on wine. For the pan sauce, I used Trader Joe's classic "3 Buck Chuck" because that's all I had in my apartment so I needed to be resourceful. Still tasted great!

Procedure

1. Before beginning your preparation, take the cheese out of the refrigerator and let it sit out in room temperature for a few minutes. This softens the cheese and makes it much easier to handle in this dish.

2. Remove the outer 2 layers of the shallot and thinly slice. Take the block of the cheese that should be softened at this point and cut very thin slices. Set these ingredients aside with the sage leaves.

3. This part can be a little tricky, especially in my case because I do not own a rolling pin (an atrocity, I know.) But I'll give you the directions assuming you do own a rolling pin: Place the chicken breast between sheets of wax paper, and roll with a rolling pin. If you need to improvise, a meat mallet works well too. Flatten out the chicken until it is about 1/4-inch thick. Then cut along the length of the chicken into approximately 1/2 inch strips. Season the strips with salt and pepper on both sides. Repeat for the second piece of chicken.

4. Cover each strip of chicken with a slice of Le Gruyère and sage leaves. Roll them up and seal tightly with toothpicks so that they look like this:

5. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the rolled up chicken and cook until brown on both sides, turning constantly. As they start to brown, they should almost resemble scallops. Do not worry if some cheese melts onto the pan.

6. Once the chicken has cooked, transfer the chicken onto a plate (cover the plate with a paper towel to drain the excess oil.) Remove toothpicks.

7. Onto the pan sauce...return the skillet to medium heat and add the sliced shallot. Cook the shallot, scraping up brown bits from the pan, for about 2 minutes. Add the wine until most of the liquid has evaporated. I added some chili powder to the wine to achieve the right color and for an extra kick.

8. Pour the sauce over the chicken and you're ready to serve!

~A