Chicken Roulade Florentine with Roasted Red Peppers & Asiago

Chicken Roulade Florentine

with Roasted Red Pepper & Asiago

The word "Roulade" simply means "rolled up". There are many different types of Roulade that include pork, veal, and chicken. What you roll up in it, well, that's entirely up to you!

This particular recipe is one of my favorites. I usually like to serve this with a Rosemary Cream Sauce.

Since there are so many variations on Roulades, I was hard pressed to find an exact image for this particular Roulade on the WEB, so the main photo is just an example of how a Roulade should look. Keeping this in mind, I was able to procure an image of this recipe that I made the other day for my brother Mike and his family. The image is NOT the best, so I hesitate to use it as the main photo, so I will just include BOTH.

Roasted red bell peppers you can buy in your grocery store, OR you can roast your own if you know how to. For time sake, go for the store bought roasted bell peppers.

Ingredients:

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
Salt
Black pepper
2 teaspoons fresh thyme
4 slices Provolone cheese
2 cups shredded Asiago cheese
2 large roasted red bell peppers (need about half a pepper for each piece of chicken)
Bag of fresh baby spinach (usually in the salad section of grocery store)
Toothpicks

Procedure:

Lay out a layer of plastic wrap on counter top. Evenly space out chicken breasts on top of plastic wrap. Place another layer of plastic wrap over top of breasts. Using a meat pounder (or tenderizer tool), flatten chicken breasts out to about 1/4 inch thickness, trying to keep them in a rectangular shape. Be careful not to pound too hard or you will tear the chicken. If you don't have a meat pounder, you can use a rolling pin, bottom of a sauce pan..be creative.

Once chicken is pounded out, remove top layer of plastic wrap and throw away. Liberally salt and pepper both sides of chicken, laying each piece "skin" side down.

Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon of fresh thyme onto each breast. Layer one slice of provolone cheese, Asiago cheese, 1/2 of a roasted red bell pepper, and a nice handful of baby spinach. Be very liberal with the spinach, because it WILL shrink substantially when cooked.

Roll up chicken breasts lengthwise, tight as you can, but be careful not to tear the chicken. Once rolled, secure with toothpick and place seam side down in baking dish. A 13x9 dish will do just fine.

Bake in 375 degree oven until internal temperature is 160 degrees, about 45 minutes. The baking dish will have liquid from the cooked chicken. You can discard this or save it to use in soup or whatever.

Allow chicken to set for 10 minutes, then slice into medallion sized pieces and arrange on serving plate. Drizzle with Rosemary Cream Sauce or the sauce of your choice.

Rosemary Cream Sauce

1/4 cup white wine
1 cup heave cream
2 springs fresh rosemary
1 TBSP butter

Reduce wine in sauce pan to about half. Add heavy cream and fresh rosemary, allow to steep over low heat (not boiling) for about 10 minutes. Strain out Rosemary, add butter. Serve over desired dish.

Vegetable Chowder with Jalapeno Peppers

Vegetable Chowder with Jalapeno Peppers

One of my favorite soups to make, full of flavor and gorgeous to look at as well. Recently made this for my brother Mike and his family, and my reward was the silence at the table as they were eating this soup, once in a while coming up for air, saying "Oh my god!" haha.


It's not a difficult soup to make, and I do hope you will try it and enjoy it as much as I have, and others. You can use any of your favorite vegetables that you like, this is just the basic recipe, but you should always include the Mirepoix (onion, celery, carrot) and build from there. If you prefer it more hearty, use more, or make cut the vegetables into a larger dice.

This is also an example of using a "Roux" at the end of cooking instead of at the beginning.

Ingredients:

5 slices of bacon, chopped
Olive Oil (or vegetable oil) as needed
1 Large onion (or two medium), diced medium
3 Celery ribs, diced medium
3 Carrots, diced medium
1 large green bell pepper, diced medium
1 large red bell pepper, diced medium
3 cloves Garlic, minced
1/2 cup dry white wine
1.5 to 2 quarts chicken or vegetable stock
Chicken or Vegetable bouillon if needed**
2 cups whole kernel corn (or 1 can)
3 tablespoons chopped jalapeno peppers. I prefer the jarred/pickled for the flavor)
3 to 4 medium potatoes, peeled and diced medium
Bouquet Garni (Herb Sachet) (See below)
Salt, to taste
2 cups heavy cream
Roux (See below)
1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley

Bouquet Garni (Herb Sachet)

Make a banquet garni (herb sachet) with the following herbs (put in a piece of cheesecloth and tie with string, photo is an example):

2 bay leaves
6 parsley stems
1/2 teaspoon dry oregano
6 fresh thyme sprigs
8 to 10 whole peppercorns


Basic Roux

1 stick butter (8 Tbsp)
6 to 8 tbsp flour

Melt butter over medium heat in pan, add flour and whisk until smooth. You want a "blond" roux, so do not let it get dark, will only take a minute or so. Remove from heat and set aside until you are ready for it.

PUT IT ALL TOGETHER

In large pot, saute the chopped bacon until all fat is rendered and is crispy. Use a slotted spoon and transfer bacon onto paper towel leaving the bacon fat in the pan.

Depending on how much fat was rendered from the bacon, you may need to add some olive oil or vegetable oil to the pan. Add the onions, celery, carrots, red and green bell peppers to pot, and saute over medium heat until onions are translucent, about 2 to3 minutes. Add minced garlic and saute until fragrant, about 30 more seconds. Remove all vegetables from pot and set aside. Turn heat to medium high.

Add white wine to pan and deglaze the pan using a wooden spoon to get up any bits that remain in the pan. Let wine simmer for about 1.5 to 2 minutes to reduce slightly.

Turn heat back down to medium and return vegetables to pot, and add chicken or vegetable stock. I always start with 1 quart, and add more as/if needed, keeping in mind you still have more liquid to add later. I tend to end up using about 1.5 quarts of stock when all said and done.

**If your stock is store bought or weak in flavor, supplement with chicken or vegetable bouillon. I only use a brand called "Better than Bouillon", it is a base rather than a bouillon, used in most restaurants. It can be found in most grocery stores now. Not recommended to be used solely, just as a supplement.

Add corn. If using canned corn, also add the juice from the can for added flavor. If using frozen, I like to have it thawed out before adding, but it's OK if you didn't do that, just keep in mind it will add more liquid to the pot. You can also cut it right off the cob. I find I prefer the canned corn with the liquid from the can. You can also use creamed corn, but it will change the texture of the soup. I tend to use creamed corn only if its a corn-based soup/chowder.

Add potatoes, jalapeno peppers, and herb sachet. Bring entire pot to a simmer, cover, turn heat to medium low or low and allow to simmer for at least 20 minutes, or until potatoes are fork-tender (insert fork w/ little resistance without falling apart).

While simmering the soup, prepare the roux in a small pot or skillet, set aside.

Taste soup, add salt to taste. I like to wait until this point to add salt, specially if using bouillon or base supplement as they tend to contain a lot of sodium.

Add heavy cream. Allow soup to return to low simmer, then whisk in the roux and allow soup to simmer and thicken, about 5 more minutes.

Taste soup again, adjust salt/seasonings if needed.

Add chopped fresh parsley right before serving, top each bowl with a few bits of the bacon pieces if desired.