Dinner Dec 16, 2024
Note: I used a ham steak and didn't love the results. So I'm writing this recipe to use pre-sliced prosciutto... but I'm not actually sure how much is needed.
Ingredients:
1 Whole Chicken
1 lb Spinach
Unsalted Butter
2 packages Prosciutto, pre-sliced
225g Swiss Cheese, block
1 Egg
Whole Milk
All-Purpose Flour
Fine Bread Crumbs
1 box Cavatappi Noodles
Kosher Salt
Fresh Ground Black Pepper
Directions:
Wash and roughly chop the spinach. Cook on medium-low in a large skillet with a little butter and seasoned with salt and pepper. When cool enough to handle, squeeze out excess moisture.
Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C).
Debone the chicken. Season the inside of the chicken with salt and pepper.
Create a sheet of prosciutto about the length of the chicken's body and twice the width by overlapping the slices around the edges, reserving 3 slices for later. Slice enough cheese to make a thin layer on top of the prosciutto sheet that's roughly the length and width of the chicken's body. Place the cheese slices on the edge of the prosciutto sheet Add a little less than half of the spinach on top of the cheese (reminder to squeeze out excess moisture!). Fold the uncovered prosciutto sheet over the spinach and try to seal the prosciutto parcel up, use more prosciutto if necessary and you have any left.
Cut one of the 3 slices of prosciutto in half. Cut four small slices of cheese and place on the edge of the prosciutto. Add a little spinach on top of the cheese. Roll each slice up.
Place the prosciutto parcel in the chicken's body. Stuff the half slice roll-ups in the wings, and the full slice roll-ups in the legs.
Tie chicken up with butcher sting.
Prepare 3 shallow bowls for the chicken breading. The first with a ¼ cup flour and 1 teaspoon each of salt and pepper (optional: also some dried herbs). The second with the egg, beaten with a little milk. The third with a cup of breadcrumbs (optional: also some dried herbs).
Roll the tied up chicken in the flour mixture until completely coated, then in the egg, and finally in the breadcrumbs.
Place breaded chicken in a Dutchoven, uncovered and cook in the oven for half an hour. Ladle drippings over the chicken, and cook for another half an hour.
Remove chicken from dutch oven by the strings. Let rest for 5-10 minutes before slicing and serving.
While chicken is cooking, place a large pot of salted water over medium heat on the stove.
Shred the remaining Swiss cheese.
Once water is boiling, cook Cavatappi noodles. Before draining pasta, reserve ¼ cup of the starchy water.
In a large skillet over medium-low heat, melt two tablespoons of butter. Evenly sprinkle three tablespoons of flour into the butter and stir into a paste. Slowly whisk in enough milk to make a thick sauce. Increase heat to medium and add the shredded cheese. As the cheese melts, add more milk and a few tablespoons of the noodle water till the sauce reaches your desired thickness.
Stir in the noodles and remaining cooked spinach till coated in cheese sauce.
Final Notes:
Deboning:
Shaved 10 minutes off my deboning time! From 50 minutes down to 40.
End result:
Uncovered for an hour seemed to be overcooked. Maybe 50 minutes uncovered or an hour with a cracked lid and a baste halfway through is best.
Basting seemed to really help with browning the breading.
I used a ham steak and didn't love how it turned out. Deli ham probably would have been better. Or, as I wrote the recipe above, pre-sliced prosciutto to securely wrap the cheese and spinach up with.
The string being coated with breading was not as annoying as I though it was going to be. It left lines of missing breading, but it didn't thankfully it didn't take any extra off with it.
Overall, it needed something. Maybe an herb mixed in with the breading, or some garlic and/or onion mixed in with the spinach.
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