Once again, I have reached into my mother’s bag of tricks and come up with one of the prettiest, most festive dishes you can serve for a holiday dinner. All Red and Green and festive and feels just like a party when you see those yummy little pinwheels all lined up on a platter on a bed of orange infused tomato sauce. The memory of this dish being brought to the holiday table to the approval of my family members seated at a big table is something I will never forget. Holidays are all about the food and when the food itself is designed to please the eye and the palette then traditions are born and perpetuated. And this is just such a dish.
As complicated as it may sound, this is an incredibly easy dish and it can be made the day before and refrigerated overnight. On the day of your holiday dinner, a quick warm up is all you need. So the ease of preparation does not reflect how dramatic the presentation of this dish can be. The filling for the chicken is enhanced with the addition of fresh basil, prosciutto, mortadella, parmesan cheese and nutmeg which gives it a very distinctive flavor. As you read this blog you will see that I lean toward the addition of nutmeg whenever there is a smooth white ingredient or base such as a cream sauce or cheese filling. There is just something about the earthy nutmeg taste that takes this filling from ordinary to extraordinary.
Once the dish is baked in the oven, it must rest a few minutes before slicing the chicken breasts; otherwise, it the filling will not be compact enough to stay within the confines of each rolled slice. Look at these photos and you will see how there are multiple ways to serve this chicken with the most fun being by laying the slices down in a Christmas tree design on a bed of orange tomato sauce starting with one roll at the top, two in the next row, then three rolls and so on.
Ricotta and Spinich Chicken Roulades with Orange Tomato Sauce
The pictures tell the story here. This is a colorful and flavorful main course that echoes the traditions of a holiday dinner. All the flavors work well together to form a dish that not only looks beautiful, it tastes like a celebration.
Ingredients
For the Ricotta and Spinich Filling
- 12 boneless and skinless chicken breasts pounded thinly
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 medium onions finely minced
- 6 cloves garlic finely chopped
- 3 9 ounce packages frozen chopped spinach best to buy it a steamer bag you can microwave
- 6 ounces mortadella thinly sliced but not shaved
- 5 ounces prosciutto thinly sliced but not shaved
- 5 ounces grated Parmesan preferably Parmigiano-Reggiano
- 8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg freshly grated
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 2 16 ounce containers whole milk ricotta
- 8 leaves large basil finely julienned
For the Orange Tomato Sauce
- 3 28 ounce cans whole peeled tomatoes drained and crushed with your hands
- peels from two large oranges cut into large strips
- 5 basil stems the thick woody part
- 10 sprigs fresh thyme
- 4 tablespoons honey unflavored
- 6 ounces mascarpone
- 10 basil leaves finely julienned
Instructions
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First, in a large saucepan (not a sauté or frying pan) sauté all of the minced onions and garlic in the olive oil until translucent. Remove ½ of the onions and garlic to a medium sized mixing bowl and set aside to cool for the ricotta stuffing. Leave the other half of the onions and garlic in the saucepan to make the Orange Tomato Sauce.
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Microwave the packages of frozen chopped spinach for 7 minutes in the microwave. Open each of the packages and place all of the cooked spinach in a large strainer. With a wooden spoon, press all of the water out of the spinach. Keep stirring and moving the spinach around in the strainer, pressing it against the sides of the strainer until no liquid remains. Add the spinach to the bowl of onions and garlic and allow the spinach to cool.
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Cut the mortadella and prosciutto into a medium to small dice. You want the pieces to be quite small so they blend well in the stuffing. Add the meats to the mixing bowl along with the parmesan, mozzarella, nutmeg, salt, pepper, ricotta and basil. Mix thoroughly.
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Lay all of the chicken breasts out on a counter and divide the stuffing mixture into 12 equal parts shaped in a roll the width of the chicken breast. Put the roll across the widest part of the chicken breast and roll the chicken around the stuffing until it is all covered. The stuffing is thick enough that it will not come out when the breasts are cooked.
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Put the stuffed chicken into two 9”x12” baking pans. Make the Orange Tomato sauce while the chicken is baking.
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At this point you can cover the stuffed chicken breasts with plastic wrap and foil an refrigerate them overnight. When ready to cook, take them out of the refrigerator an hour before you are going to bake them.
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Put the pans covered tightly just with the foil (remove the plastic wrain a preheated 350 degree oven for 35 minutes. Check the temperature with an instant read thermometer. They should be at 165 degrees.
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When cooked through, remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes so the filling can solidify a bit before slicing them.
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When ready to serve them, you can either serve a whole breast to each person on a bed of the Orange Tomato Sauce with a bit of extra sauce dotted over the top or you can place a layer of sauce on a large platter and slice each rolled breast into about 5 even slices and lay them all in a tree design starting with one slice at the top and adding one slice to the next line of rolled pieces.
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Serve immediately as this is best eaten hot.
Orange Tomato Sauce
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In the saucepan with the reserved onions and garlic (from the ricotta stuffing), add all of the ingredients except for the mascarpone and julienned basil. Make sure you use a very heavy saucepan like Calphalon.
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Cook the mixture over medium low heat for one hour, turning the heat down if the sauce bubbles too vigorously. Stir frequently so the sauce does not burn. After an hour, remove the pan from the heat and remove the basil stems, thyme and orange peel. Save two of the pieces of the peel and cut into very small pieces.
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When the sauce has cooled for 15 minutes, put half of it in the bowl of a large food processor with the small pieces of cooked orange peel. DO NOT PUT THE FEED TUBE INTO THE TOP OF THE PROCESSOR. Because the mixture is hot, you want to process it with a kitchen towel over the hole in the top so steam can escape. Tightly put the top on the food processor, cover the opening with the towel and process until the sauce is smooth.
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Pour the sauce into a large mixing bowl and repeat with the other half of the tomato mixture. To this other half, add the Mascarpone and basil and process until smooth. Taste the sauce for seasoning and add salt and a bit more honey if it is too acidic.
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You can refrigerate the sauce overnight or proceed with the recipe, baking the chicken breasts at this point.
Recipe Notes
First, in a large saucepan (not a sauté or frying pan) sauté all of the minced onions and garlic in the olive oil until translucent. Remove ½ of the onions and garlic to a medium sized mixing bowl and set aside to cool for the ricotta stuffing. Leave the other half of the onions and garlic in the saucepan to make the Orange Tomato Sauce. Microwave the packages of frozen chopped spinach for 7 minutes in the microwave. Open each of the packages and place all of the cooked spinach in a large strainer. With a wooden spoon, press all of the water out of the spinach. Keep stirring and moving the spinach around in the strainer, pressing it against the sides of the strainer until no liquid remains. Add the spinach to the bowl of onions and garlic and allow the spinach to cool. Cut the mortadella and prosciutto into a medium to small dice. You want the pieces to be quite small so they blend well in the stuffing. Add the meats to the mixing bowl along with the parmesan, mozzarella, nutmeg, salt, pepper, ricotta and basil. Mix thoroughly. Lay all of the chicken breasts out on a counter and divide the stuffing mixture into 12 equal parts shaped in a roll the width of the chicken breast. Put the roll across the widest part of the chicken breast and roll the chicken around the stuffing until it is all covered. The stuffing is thick enough that it will not come out when the breasts are cooked. Put the stuffed chicken into two 9”x12” baking pans. At this point you can cover the stuffed chicken breasts with plastic wrap and foil an refrigerate them overnight. When ready to cook, take them out of the refrigerator an hour before you are going to bake them. Put the pans covered tightly just with the foil (remove the plastic wrap) in a preheated 350 degree oven for 35 minutes. Check the temperature with an instant read thermometer. They should be at 165 degrees. When cooked through, remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes so the filling can solidify a bit before slicing them. When ready to serve them, you can either serve a whole breast to each person on a bed of the Orange Tomato Sauce with a bit of extra sauce dotted over the top or you can place a layer of sauce on a large platter and slice each rolled breast into about 5 even slices and lay them all in a tree design starting with one slice at the top and adding one slice to the next line of rolled pieces. Serve immediately as this is best eaten hot. Orange Tomato Sauce 3 28 ounce cans whole peeled tomatoes crushed with your hands the peel of two oranges cut into large strips the large woody stems of 5 basil leaves tied together with string 10 sprigs thyme tied together with the stems of the basil leaves 3 tablespoons honey 6 ounces Mascarpone at room temperature 10 basil leaves cut into a fine julienne In the saucepan with the reserved onions and garlic (from the stuffing), add all of the ingredients except for the Mascarpone. Make sure you use a very heavy saucepan like Calphalon. Cook the mixture over medium low heat for one hour, turning the heat down if the sauce bubbles too vigorously. Stir frequently so the sauce does not burn. After an hour, remove the pan from the heat and remove the basil stems, thyme and orange peel. Save two of the pieces of the peel and cut into very small pieces. When the sauce has cooled for 15 minutes, put half of it in the bowl of a large food processor. DO NOT PUT THE FEED TUBE INTO THE TOP OF THE PROCESSOR. Because the mixture is hot, you want to process it with a kitchen towel over the hole in the top so steam can escape. Tightly put the top on the food processor, cover the opening with the towel and process until the sauce is smooth. Pour the sauce into a large mixing bowl and repeat with the other half of the tomato mixture. To this other half, add the Mascarpone and basil and process until smooth. Taste the sauce for seasoning and add salt and a bit more honey if it is too acidic. You can refrigerate the sauce overnight or proceed with the recipe, baking the chicken breasts at this point.
I hope you will be delighted with the fanciest but least time consuming dish you have ever made for a holiday dinner (unless, of course, you have served hot dogs in the past). Thank you for reading this blog all month when we celebrated with all the Red and Green courses. MEtirement officially becomes real on January 4, 2017 and the journey I began in August continues, this time with no looking backwards.