Rolling Right Along

When I get bored I tend to get creative with my food.  When I was younger, and more energetic, I would debone a whole chicken.  Today I am more efficient and confine myself to a roulade, a piece of meat pounded to a malleable thickness spread with something tasty, and then rolled up into a tidy, tasty package.

My children know that I love Costco.  I buy much of my produce and most of my dairy and meat products at the big box giant.  Unfortunately with my household reduced to two, me always calorie counting, and the wife eating only rarely,  much of the produce goes bad before we can eat it.  It seems we always are throwing out spinach and mushrooms.  Lately I have been finding ways to incorporate these two favorites into several dishes.  Today’s  adventure was a rousingly successful chicken roulade.

CHICKEN ROULADE FLORENTINE

Ingredients

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• ½ cup sautéed Crimini mushrooms
• ½ cup sautéed spinach (squeeze out excess moisture)
• 2 slice Jarlsburg cheese
• 3 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp black pepper
• Kosher salt
• 1 cup seasoned bread crumbs*
• ½ cup grated Romano cheese

Direction

1. Butterfly chicken breasts and divide into four pieces.  Pound breasts until ¼ inch thick.Layer each breast with one tbsp spinach, one tbsp mushrooms, and one half slice of cheese.Roll each piece and secure with two loops of kitchen twine.
2. Combine mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, pepper and a pinch of salt.  Smear mixture on each roulade.
3. Combine bread crumbs and Romano Cheese.  Roll each roulade in breadcrumb mixture until well coated.
4. Refrigerate chicken for at least one hour to set coating.
5. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Farenheit
6. Bake chicken on a rack set on a cookie sheet for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

*  I make my own breadcrumbs by saving scraps of quality white bread, toasting it, and blending it up with salt, pepper, and a bit of dry thyme.