Pollo alla Valdostana (Chicken with Prosciutto and Fontina Cheese) Recipe
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This dish from the Val d’Aosta region of northern Italy combines three local ingredients: white wine, prosciutto, and fontina cheese. The chicken is lightly pounded into an even thickness, dredged in flour, and sautéed in butter. White wine is stirred in to make a sauce, and the browned chicken breasts are covered with slices of prosciutto and cheese before serving.
What to buy: Prosciutto and fontina can be found at most grocery stores. Though purists would call for fontina Val d’Aosta, a Dutch fontina will work fine too.
- 4 (6- to 8-ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (1/2 stick)
- 1/4 cup dry white wine
- 2 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto
- 2 to 3 ounces thinly sliced fontina cheese
- Place 1 chicken breast between 2 sheets of plastic wrap or parchment paper and use a meat mallet or a frying pan to gently pound it to an even thickness, about 1/2 inch. Repeat with the remaining breasts.
- Place the flour in a wide, shallow dish, season generously with salt and pepper, and whisk to combine. Dredge each breast in the flour mixture and shake off any excess.
- Melt the butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. When it foams, add the chicken breasts and sauté until golden brown, about 4 minutes per side. Remove to a plate and set aside.
- Add the wine and scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to incorporate any browned bits into the sauce.
- Return the chicken to the pan and reduce the heat to low. Divide the prosciutto among the chicken breasts, then divide the cheese. Cook, spooning sauce over the chicken to help melt the cheese, until the sauce has slightly thickened, about 3 minutes. (Add a few tablespoons of water if the sauce gets too thick.) Season with pepper and serve.
Beverage pairing: Try a northern Italian white with this, something sharp and defined like the 2005 Pinot Grigio from the master of the Alto Adige, Alois Lageder. It has sharp green pear and herbal flavors that will highlight all the elements in this simple dish.
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OK How about some Salt, Pepper, Sage etc. Although this sounds great, Flavoring, dredging, sauteing, and deglazing are all MISSING. WTF???
I just made this the other night. It was so simple and delicious. I served it with a cheesy risotto - everyone loved it!
kjmerz - I did exactly what you said about tripling the sauce and serving it with the polenta and it was DELICIOUS. :-)~
OH YEAH, and after you've tripled the volume of sauce (see my comment of Sept 2007), serve polenta on the side to mop it all up...
toothdoc,
agreed all the way! i made this when it was posted in 2007 (and I commented above) and I'm making it again tonite. I always do your #1, and your #2 makes perfect sense!
Two easy tuneups on the recipe: 1. remove the chicken before adding the wine, then return it when the wine has cooked down, and 2. grate the cheese first for ease of meltage and visual appeal. You can also run it under the broiler for a minute before serving.
How do you know this recipe is not from Valdosta , Georgia? Easy. The ingredients do not include a can of Cream of Mushroom soup.
nursedeb - I actually adjusted the recipe this way when i made it a couple weeks ago - it turned out great.
i too was trying to think of how to make this a little more appealing to the eye. it looks like a piece of american chesse thrown over a chicken breast. maybe create a pocket and stuff the chicken breast? the heat from the chicken would melt the cheese too.
I just made this dish yesterday and it was delicious and easy to make. My guests were impressed! I highly recommend it.
I love a.capo's zinger! I live near Valdosta, Ga and have been to the name sake area in Italy!
I can imagine the flavors in my head. I think the objection to the photo is that the dish looks like mushed tamale's and not a delicious chicken dish. Remember, presentation is almost everything! A more colorful presentation and one less breast on the plate would make this recipe photo a beautiful representation of a tasty dish.
Just a note... deboning your own chicken is EASY!!!! so don't sacrifice flavor. Also, bone-in chicken is a whole lot cheaper than boneless. : D
needs more sauce. dry vermouth rather than white wine is a nice touch also.
The problem with a boneless, skinless chicken breast in the US is that there is absolutely no flavor in the chicken; it's just a raft for the proscuitt and cheese. And if there's no flavor in the chicken, how can there be flavor in the sauce?
How can we be sure this recipe really isn't from Valdosta, GA?
This is a delicious recipe. You can even pump up the flavor by adding crushed canned San Marzano tomatoes to the butter and white wine sauce. But I have to say the picture above makes this dish look really unappetizing...
i,ve got to agree with operagirl it do'se look ugly
I guess this just shows the subjectivity of visual appeal, as I've got to disagree with operagirl: the picture has me ravenously drooling for a taste!
While this might be delicious, the picture looks totally unappetizing.