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.

Pico de Gallo vs. Salsa??

I get the question, "What's the difference between Pico de Gallo and Salsa?" Depending on who you may ask, depends on the answer you receive. Popular answer are, "Salsa is cooked, Pico de Gallo is raw", or "Salsa is more saucy whereas Pico de Gallo is more like a relish", and some people say there is no difference, they are the same. I could get into the break down of the translations of the words and all that, but do I REALLY want to bore anyone to tears?

For me, my answer tends to compile a few popular answers: Pico de Gallo is raw and not saucy, whereas Salsa is cooked and is saucy.

Between the two, I much prefer Pico de Gallo style.

If I go to a Latin themed restaurant, and they drop a bowl of jarred salsa in front of me, I get up and walk out. Pico de Gallo and salsa is so easy to make, there is NO reason why it can not be made fresh. If they can not take the effort to make fresh salsa, I can only imagine what the rest of the meal would be like.

I have bought jarred salsa's before, and have always come up disappointed. So I always tend to make my own Pico de Gallo. Last week, I saw a jarred "Pico de Gallo" so I had to try it. To say I was disappointed in the product is just the tip of the iceberg. It was horrible, and it ended up in the trash. And for those of my readers, if you use jarred salsa's, do yourself a favor and TRY this recipe next time you want to have chips and salsa. The freshness and flavor bursts will overwhelm your taste buds!

If you look online for a Pico de Gallo recipe, the first thing you will notice is everyone has their own version of it. While most of the ingredients remain the same, there are definitely many variations on it. This is my version, hope you try it, and hope you enjoy it!


Pico de Gallo
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YIELD: about 2 cups

1 small red onion, diced small (about 1/4 cup)
2 large jalepeno peppers, seeded and ribs removed, diced small (leave seeds & ribs in for hotter product)
1/2 of a green bell pepper, diced small
2 cloves of garlic, either minced or use a garlic press
2 large, very ripe tomatoes, diced and seeds removed. About 1 1/2 cups
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped fine.
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
Juice of one lime


Combine all ingredients together in a bowl. Serve with tortilla chips of your choice. It is better if you let it sit for a day in the fridge, but it is just fine to serve right away as well, your choice depending on when you actually need it.