Jeff, the A.D.D. Chef

Check back soon for the recipe for Chicken Souvlaki.

This recipe is perfect for the A.D.D.er who thrives on hyperfocused multi-step processes. It begins with thinly sliced chicken breasts and progresses to a rolling, flouring, egg coating, bread crumb covering and frying process that is topped off with a sauce making and baking process. None of these steps are complicated…but there are many of them.

To make this an enjoyable cooking experience, queue up your favorite music CDs, turn up the volume and get ready to spend about 2 hours cooking. (With experience you’ll be able to cut this time in half.) The recipe below is very forgiving so precise measuring is not required. The suggested quantities will make enough for six people (two pieces per person).

INGREDIENTS

• 12 Thinly sliced chicken breasts
• 1/2 lb. virginia ham or some other flavorful ham
• 1/2 lb. swiss cheese (mild, not pungent)
• 2 cans cream of mushroom soup
• 1 package of fresh mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 cup of white wine
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp garlic salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup unseasoned (plain) bread crumbs
• Olive Oil (for frying)

DIRECTIONS

To make sure that you don’t forget any of the steps involved in this dish, it makes sense to set up an assembly line.

1. Set up the right side of the assembly line (see below). On the right is the ham and swiss cheese, to the left is the sliced chicken breast.
   
2. Set up the left side of the assembly line (see below). From the right you have the flour which has been mixed with the garlic salt and black pepper. In the middle are two beaten eggs. On the left is the bread crumbs.
   
3. Here is a view of the full assembly line. You will start at the far end (where the ham, cheese and chicken are located) and move to the left. We are now ready to begin.
   
4. Place one piece of cheese on top of one piece of ham and roll it up.
5. Place this ham-cheese roll on a chicken breast and roll up the chicken breast. You should have something like this:
   
6. Roll this in the flour.
7. Roll this in the egg.
8. Roll this in the bread crumbs.
9. Each piece needs to be fried to a golden brown. It is up to you if you want to roll all of the pieces and then fry them or fry them one at a time.
   
10. Place all of the fried pieces in a large tray.
11. In a large bowl mix the two cans of cream of mushroom soup with the fresh mushrooms and white wine. Then cover the chicken with this sauce (see below).
    
12. Bake the chicken for about 15 minutes at 350 F. oven.

Note: Some variations, as noted at What is Chicken Cordon Bleu?, can be to substitute prosciutto for the ham or gruyere cheese for the swiss cheese. We’ve already seen prosciutto used in the Chicken Rollatini and Eggplant Rollatini. Gruyere cheese is often used in French Onion Soup. You might also want to add a small container (16 oz.) of sour cream to the sauce.

This recipe was submitted by blogger and A.D.D.er Renee from Kick My ADD. It is an adaptation of Anika’s Parmesan Chicken. It looks absolutely delicious!

INGREDIENTS

• 10-12 chicken legs
• 1 egg
• Splash of milk
• About 4 oz. (1/2 container) of grated Parmesan Cheese
• About 1/2 Cup italian-seasoned bread crumbs
• Coarse Kosher Salt (a little)
• Ground Black Pepper (to taste)
• Mrs. Dash® ‘Table Blend’ Seasoning (a lot)
• Mrs. Dash® Chicken Grilling Blend (a little)
• Italian Seasoning Blend (a little)
• Garlic Powder (a lot)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 400F.
2. Whisk the egg and a splash of milk in a medium bowl.
3. Mix the Parmesan cheese, bread crumbs, salt, pepper, and seasonings to taste in another medium bowl (Choose whatever chicken seasonings you have at home that you like - the recipe is flexible! Pre-mixed seasonings like Mrs. Dash Blends save time.)

4. Dip each chicken leg into the Egg mixture to coat, then into the Parmesan Cheese mixture to coat. Place the chicken legs in a olive-oil greased glass baking dish.

5. Bake at 400° F for about 55 minutes, flipping the chicken legs once after about 40 mins. Cook until the inside of the chicken is no longer pink and the outside is browned.

6. Time to eat!

The recipe below will serve three people or two fairly hungry people. It should be served with linguine and some nice Italian bread in order to fulfill federal nutrition guidelines.¹ You’ll note that in most cases no specific quantity is listed for the ingredients. With this recipe it is proportion - not precision - that makes it “easy to make.”² When you purchase ingredients you will almost always have more than needed. More is better than less since leftover ingredients can be used in another recipe.

So to help you get started with this recipe, here are some quantities needed based on my experience: six thinly sliced chicken breasts, 1/4 lb. of prosciutto³, 1/2 lb. package of mozzarella.

INGREDIENTS

• Thinly sliced chicken breasts (two chicken breasts per person…total of six needed)
• Thinly sliced prosciutto (you need one slice per chicken breast)
• Whole or skim milk mozzarella cheese (purchase only a name brand…not a store brand)
  • Place it in the freezer till it begins to freeze (well…not quite freeze…when it gets stiff).
  • Remove it and then make nice thin slices.
  • You will need one slice per chicken breast.
• Grated cheese (Parmigiano-Reggiano…try to get real cheese…avoid imitation)
• Chopped garlic (chopped garlic from a jar works fine)
• Butter or margarine (like SmartBalance®)
• 1/3 cup white wine (cooking wine is okay…some Pinot Grigio may be better)
• 1/4 cup olive oil

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat your oven to 325 degrees F.
2. If you are cooking with Pinot Grigio, now is a good time to sample some of it…to make sure it has not gone bad.
3. Lay the chicken breasts on a platter and sprinkle with grated cheese.
4. Turn over the chicken breasts…sprinkle more cheese.
5. Make sure the Pinot Grigio is not going bad so sample some more of it.
6. On each chicken breast you will place:
   • About 1/4 teaspoon of chopped garlic.
   • About 1/2 teaspoon of butter (or margarine).
   • A slice of mozzarella cheese.
   • A slice of prosciutto. (Tear off a piece of it for placement on top of the rolled up chicken breast.)



7. Roll up the chicken breasts and arrange them in your favorite CorningWare® Dish.
8. Place a small piece of prosciutto on top of each rolled up chicken breast.



9. In a separate container, mix the white wine and olive oil.
10. Slowly pour the wine/oil mixture on top of the chicken breasts.
11. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes if the chicken breasts are very thin…closer to 45 minutes if they are a bit thick.

Chicken Rollatini - Up Close & Personal

1. What’s a “nice Italian bread”? It is a bread that has a crust with a bit of a crunch but the bread is soft inside. The crust should not be mushy and squeezable. And I believe some nice wine is part of those federal guidelines. [↩]
2. Precision can, in some cases, make a recipe easy to make because you know that if you follow it precisely (redundant…no?) it will come out right. [↩]
3. That equals about ten slices…one slice per chicken breast for a total of six slices with a few left over for the chef to taste. [↩]

If there was ever an award to give out for the most pleasantly aromatic dish then Chicken Marsala would certainly deserve an award. While the Marsala wine lends a wonderful aroma and color to the chicken breast¹ it also adds a delicate flavor. I’m so impressed with the way it transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary that I’ve been adding it to many other dishes. However I’m still not convinced that Pancakes Marsala is going to be a hit anytime soon.

INGREDIENTS

• 6 thinly sliced (or pounded) chicken breasts
• 1 teaspoon of garlic salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• Olive oil (a few tablespoons)
• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 1 cup of fresh sliced mushrooms
• 1/2 cup of Marsala wine

DIRECTIONS

1. Mix the flour, pepper and garlic salt.
2. Dredge each of the chicken breasts and place them on a platter. (Don’t stack the chicken breasts…you don’t want to accidentally remove the flour coating.)
3. Heat up a skillet with about 3 tablespoons of olive oil and the 2 tablespoons of butter. Keep in mind that you will probably need to add a bit more olive oil as you go along since it will get absorbed by the chicken.
   
4. Lightly brown only one side of the chicken breasts and then, when that is done, flip them over and start to lightly brown the other side.
5. Add the mushrooms and keep browning the chicken breasts.
6. When both sides have been browned, pour the wine over the chicken, cover the skillet and simmer for about 10-12 minutes.

NOTE

1. Since the chicken breast is very thin, it doesn’t take long to lightly brown. It’s a judgment call as to how long it takes to brown each side. If the skillet is fairly hot and the chicken breast is about 1/4 inch in thickness then it may not take more than two minutes to lightly brown each side. If you are concerned about undercooked chicken, keep in mind that you will be adding wine and cooking the chicken - at a simmer - for an additional ten minutes. (However, see Note 2 below.)

2. One way I judge when the simmering is done is by standing very close to the skillet, removing the cover and then breathing deeply. If I no longer smell the alcohol from the wine then I know it has simmered long enough.

3. I like to serve this dish with pasta and a nice Italian bread.²

VARIATIONS

1. Substitute veal cutlets for the chicken.
2. Add fresh spinach.

1. Or veal, if you decide to use that instead. [↩]
2. What’s a “nice Italian bread”? It is a bread that has a crust with a bit of a crunch but the bread is soft inside. The crust should not be mushy and squeezable. [↩]