There are few things I enjoy more in this life than really, really good chicken and gravy. It’s one of my favorite things, even though I honestly don’t make or eat it all that often. Generally speaking, I try to keep my gravy consumption on the lower end – it helps balance out my wine and cheese intake and life is, after all, about balance.
When I do eat chicken and gravy, I go all out. I bread the chicken like my life depends on every square inch of it being absolutely covered in individual crumbs, and I don’t skimp on butter or basically anything else that results in a truly indulgent dish. In this case, I’ve added prosciutto under the breading of each piece of chicken, and the result is a salty, crispy situation that adds tons of flavor and texture to the dish. I use Panko bread crumbs because I am a firm believer in their superiority over standard bread crumbs, and I add butter, wine, chicken stock and cream to the pan gravy because I simply don’t see any reason not to. There’s also plenty of fresh sage in here to cut through the richness of the breading and gravy, and a squeeze of lemon over everything right before you plate this up goes a long way toward keeping everything beautifully balanced. Lastly, some cherry tomatoes and peas give this luxurious meal a distinctly fresh vibe, which really just hammers home the point that this dish is all-around wonderful – at once rich a decadent as well as fresh and bright.
Aside from the taste factor, this meal is pretty darn easy. When you consider the return on your half-hour investment, it pays dividends. If you’ve got one pan, you’ve got all the major tools you need you to make this entire meal. If you take a few minutes and get your chicken breaded before you begin, you won’t have any trouble pulling this entire thing together in no time flat. That’s especially true if you use vermicelli or angel hair pasta noodles that come in those convenient little pinwheels in the artisan noodle section at the store. If you can’t find those, no prob! Just cook your noodles separately and pour the chicken and gravy over top before you serve everything up.
My only other piece of ingredient-related advice here is to use good quality prosciutto. It crisps up better and has better flavor than any generic stuff you can buy. In my opinion, if you’re planning to wrap perfectly good meat in other meat, the ‘other’ stuff should be pretty decent, or else what’s the point? This dish is easily one of my favorite week night dinners for when I’m feeling like something a little more indulgent, so…happy indulging!
One Pan Prosciutto-Wrapped Chicken With Sage & Pan Gravy
Ingredients
- Olive oil
- unsalted butter
- 4 thin-cut chicken breasts *regular cut, butterflied breasts work here
- 8 leaves sage
- 8 slices prosciutto
- 2 eggs beaten
- 1 cup AP flour seasoned with salt and pepper
- 1 cup panko bread crumbs seasoned with salt and pepper
- 2 shallots chopped
- 3-4 garlic cloves chopped
- 1 tbsp fresh sage chiffonaded
- 1 cup white wine I like pinot grigio here
- 1 1/4 cup chicken stock
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- angel hair pasta
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes
- vermicelli or angel hair pinwheel pasta standard noodles work also!
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1 lemon
- fresh parsley and sage for garnish
Instructions
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Prepare your chicken. Set up a breading station with 3 stations: the seasoned flour, the beaten eggs, and the seasoned bread crumbs. Rest 2 leaves of sage atop each piece of chicken and then wrap each piece of chicken with 2 slices of prosciutto. Dredge the chicken first in the flour, then the egg, and then the bread crumbs, pressing the bread crumbs into the chicken to make sure they stick. Note: I've put the measurement here for the bread crumbs and flour as 1 cup, which is a general guideline – if you're breading your chicken and find that you need to use more, do it!
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Heat a large non-stick pan over medium-high heat. Add a few tbsp of olive oil to the pan until the bottom of the pan is coated entirely in oil. Add approx. 2 tbsp of butter to the pan as well, and melt. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
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When the oil is very hot, add the chicken to the pan and cook until golden brown, about 3-4 minutes per side. Place the chicken on a baking sheet and pop it into the oven to finish cooking while you prepare the rest of the dish.
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Reduce the heat under the pan to medium, and add 1 tbsp of butter. Allow it to melt completely, and then add the shallots. Cook for a minute or two until the shallots have just softened, and then add the garlic and sage. Cook for another minute. *At this point, between the leftover cooking liquid from the chicken, the butter you've added and the shallots' sweat (yep, it's called sweat), your pan should have enough liquid in it to completely cover the shallots, garlic and sage. If it's very dry, add another tbsp of butter and/or olive oil to make sure you've got an adequate gravy base happenin'.
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Bump the heat back up to medium-high and add the white wine. Simmer until the liquid has reduced by nearly half, about 5 minutes.
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Add another tbsp of butter and allow it to melt completely. Add the chicken stock and simmer the gravy until it has thickened slightly, another 3 minutes or so.
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Add the cream and stir to incorporate it completely. Simmer briefly, about 30 seconds.
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Return the chicken to the pan, and then add the tomatoes to the pan. Add the pasta wheels between the chicken breasts and tuck them into the simmering gravy. Note: if you're not using vermicelli or angel hair pasta wheels, you can cook the pasta separately and add it to the dish when it's cooked.
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Add the peas to the simmering dish last and continue to cook until the peas are tender, but still vibrant green.
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Garnish the dish with fresh sage and parsley and a squeeze of lemon juice. Serve piping hot!