Lidia Bastianich Chicken Involtini Food

GRILLED CHICKEN INVOLTINI

Steps:

• Preheat a charcoal grill to medium-high heat. Move the coals to the side so that one part of the grill has indirect heat.
• In a small bowl stir together the olive oil, parsley, lemon zest and salt. Set aside.
• In a separate small bowl, mix together the salt, oregano and red pepper flakes.
• Lay the chicken cutlets flat on a cutting board, lengthwise, and season all sides with the salt mixture. Place a piece of prosciutto on each cutlet. Fold each piece of provolone in half and place on top of the prosciutto. Follow with 1 sundried tomato.
• Working one at a time, roll the chicken up, in a continuous spiral roll, and seal by sticking 2 parallel skewers through the roll. Proceed with the remaining chicken, sticking 2 rolls on each pair of skewers for easy flipping. Drizzle the chicken with the olive oil and grill starting directly over the coals. Sear the chicken on all sides flipping as needed, until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Move the skewers to indirect heat and continue to cook until cooked through, about an additional 10 minutes or. Remove from the grill and allow to rest for 5 minutes. Remove the skewers from the involtini, slice and serve, drizzled with the parsley oil.

CHICKEN WITH EGGPLANT (LIDIA BASTIANICH)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400ºF degrees.
• Trim the eggplants, and peel if you prefer. Lidia stripes them,
• Slice on an angle, so that you have 12 good slices in all.
• Dredge the eggplant in flour that has been seasoned with salt, pepper & Italian seasoning.
• Heat a large skillet (preferably with a lid), add enough oil to coat the bottom, and fry the eggplant on medium-high heat until caramelized on both sides.
• Set aside on paper towels to drain while you make the chicken.
• Lightly pound the chicken breasts and dredge in the seasoned flour.
• Reheat the same skillet on medium heat, add two tablespoons of oil and tablespoons of butter, swirling to mix.
• Cook the chicken until caramelized on the one side.
• You want the chicken to brown--but do not try to hasten the process by cooking it on high heat.
• You want to do it over gentle heat so as not to toughen the meat.
• Turn them over to caramelize on the other side, and top each breast with two slices of eggplant, then a spoonful of sauce, two basil leaves, and a good sprinkling of cheese, and as much Italian seasoning as you want.
• Let cook for about two minutes, turn up the heat to medium-high, add the wine to the pan, then the remaining tomato sauce.
• Shake the pan a bit to mix, add in the last two tablespoons of butter and shake again to mix.
• Put the lid on the pan (if your pan does not have a lid, cover with foil that has been sprayed with cooking spray) and finish cooking in the oven--approx 20 minutes.
• Remove from oven and serve with a flourish.
• Try to use homemade tomato sauce, this is one of those dishes where you will be greatly rewarded for using the homemade sauce.
• To cut down on the fat/calories, you can grill or roast the eggplant instead.
• It is this final oven cooking that makes the chicken meltingly tender and the wine, tomato sauce and butter transform themselves into an incredible sauce.