chicken cutlet roulades

stuffed with whole grains, (vegan) sausage, and 8 vegetables and finished with a mushroom wine sauce.

Sound elaborate? Complicated? Like an all-day affair?

No, No, and No.

I whipped the whole thing up, start to finish, in an hour and a half—including prep. So, no, it’s not a quick one-two-three, but it’s not a major project, either.

What’s more, these beautiful and amazingly delicious roulades can be mostly made the day before and finished in the oven when you’re ready to serve.

It’s elegant enough to serve at a very important dinner on your best china.

We ate it in front of the TV on a Tuesday night. Just because.

The photos don’t do it justice. I’ll try to take better ones next time.

This chicken dish was so fabulous, it was totally worth the effort.

And, it was fun to make.

And, it could easily be transformed into a vegan dish that’s equally elegant and delicious. See more on that, here. (Leave extra time for marinating tofu)

The stuffing is fabulous and would make a great side, as well.

Here’s why this stuffing is fabulous …

First of all, it tastes fabulous. Whatever else it may be, it’s food. A dish could look beautiful and be laden with healthful benefits, but if it doesn’t taste good I don’t want to eat it.

It’s fabulous because it’s gorgeous. Just look at all those colors, sparkling like jewels. And by the way, the fact that it’s so pretty is why it’s so nutritious. Different colored vegetables offer different nutritional benefits.

Just make sure that all your vegetables are cut to the same size. I cut everything into matchsticks and then slice them crosswise into tiny cubes.

FYI—I like to peel my celery. I use a vegetable peeler to remove the tough stringy outer layer on the convex side of the stalk before cutting it. It’s not absolutely necessary if you don’t want to be bothered.

This is a very versatile dish. Meaning, it’s a wonderful way to clean out the fridge. Use up any bits and pieces of vegetables you have lying about. The vegetables I’ve put in the recipe are the ones I used, but if you haven’t got all of them, that’s fine. And, if you want to toss in some others you have on hand, that’s fine, too.

Remember that all vegetables don’t cook at the same rate. You’ll want to add them to the pot in the right order. Just be sure to have all your ingredients cut, measured, and ready to go before you start (mise en place).

And as for how much of this and how much of that … there are no measurements here, other than a handful of this and a handful of that. Use my photo as a guideline—this was for 2 portions.

The only measurement that matters is the proportion of liquid to grain, and that will vary, depending on the grain you use.

My plan was to make it with brown rice, but brown rice takes almost an hour to cook. It was late. I was tired. I went with 10 minute farro from Trader Joe’s. Wild rice would also be an excellent choice. The tender but chewy farro was great.

So without further chit-chat, here’s the recipe for these fabulous chicken cutlet roulades.

Ingredients:

• Skinless and boneless chicken breasts. I find that I get two servings from one breast half.

• Flour for dredging, plus a spoonful or two to thicken the sauce

• 1 egg, for egg wash

• Fine dry breadcrumbs—plain or seasoned

• Garlic powder

• Frozen chopped spinach (one of those rare places where frozen works better than fresh.)

• Onion

• Garlic

• Bell peppers, preferably red, yellow, or orange

• Mushrooms, any type—or use a combination—you need mushrooms for the stuffing and the sauce

• Carrot

• Celery

• Sausage, any type—breakfast sausage, Italian sausage, turkey sausage, vegan sausage

• Whole grain of your choice—amount to be determined by the number of people you’re serving.

• Water or stock as needed for steaming the grains

• Good olive oil as needed

• Fresh or dried herbs of your choosing

• A few tablespoons of nut flour—almond, pecan, or hazelnut are good choices. (If someone has a nut allergy, just leave it out.)

• About ½ cup of wine for the sauce. Choose marsala, port, vermouth, sherry …

• Stock as needed for sauce

• Salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

First, start the stuffing—

• Cut your vegetables. Use the photo above as a guide. I cut them all into matchsticks and then cut them crosswise, to about the size of peas (mirepoix). You’ll want some sliced mushrooms for the sauce.

• Put a handful or so of frozen chopped spinach in a microwave-safe bowl, and microwave it until it’s done (time will vary according to the power of your oven). If there’s any liquid remaining, squeeze it out.

• Cook the sausage and set it aside to cool. When it’s cool enough to handle, crumble it.

• Add a glug of olive oil into a medium saucepan.

• Warm the oil and add the chopped onion. Sauté the onion over medium/low heat until it’s soft and translucent.

• Then add the mushrooms and cook until they first soften and give up their liquid, and then reabsorb it.

• Then add the peppers and sauté a few minutes longer. When the peppers are starting to develop color, your onions and mushrooms should be nicely caramelized.

• Now add the carrots and celery and toss for another minute or two.

• Add the pre-cooked, frozen chopped spinach and minced garlic to the saucepan. Cook, stirring, for a few more minutes but don’t let the garlic brown.

• Then add the crumbled sausage and your grain. Cook, stirring and tossing, for 2-3 minutes so that the grains are all nicely coated with the oil.

• Next, add stock or water to the pot, the amount to be determined by the instructions on the package of grain. Cover the pot and cook over low heat until the grain is tender and the liquid has been absorbed. If the liquid is gone before the grains are tender, add a bit more. If you’ve still got liquid in the bottom of the pot when the grains are done, remove the cover, turn up the heat, and cook until the excess liquid boils away. It’s important that you stir pretty constantly if you need to do this, as it can go from too wet to scorched very quickly.

• Remove the pot from the heat and stir in your nut flour.

  How much grain you use will depend upon how many cutlets you’re stuffing and the type of grain itself (some swell more than others in cooking). I used 6 tablespoons of farro to serve two people. There was some stuffing left over, which I served on the side. You have several choices when it comes to the grain you choose. My original plan was to use brown rice, but as I said before, brown rice takes almost an hour to cook. It was late. I was tired. I went with 10 minute farro from Trader Joe’s. Wild rice would also be an excellent choice. You could also use barley or even quinoa. I can tell you that the tender but chewy farro was great.

While your stuffing is cooking, prep the chicken—

• Using a sharp chef’s knife (a boning knife works, too), slice your chicken cutlets through the middle to make two thin cutlets.

• Using the flat side of a meat mallet, pound your cutlets as thinly as possible without making holes in them. Sprinkle them very lightly with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. (Kosher chicken may not need salt)

Make the roulades—

Use a spoon to pile some stuffing evenly over the cutlets, generously, but leaving a small border around the edges. You should use just enough stuffing so that when you roll up the cutlet (the long way), the sides come together without the ends of the chicken overlapping and without forcing the stuffing out of the ends.

Roll up the cutlets. They should stick together on their own.

Using a fork, beat 1 egg in a shallow dish with a splash of water. Dredge each stuffed cutlet lightly in flour, then roll them quickly in the beaten egg, and finally roll them in fine dry bread crumbs, coating them generously.

Preheat the oven to 350°

In an oven-safe skillet, warm a glug of oil over medium/high heat. Add the stuffed and breaded cutlets and allow them to brown on one side. Then, turn them and continue to brown them, until they are golden all the way around. Don’t worry about the meat being cooked all the way through, as it will finish cooking in the oven.

Slide the skillet into the oven and roast the stuffed cutlets for 10 minutes.

While they’re baking, prepare the sauce—

Sauté a little chopped onion, a few cloves of minced garlic, and a handful of thinly sliced nice mushrooms, in a glug of olive oil. (Use about the same amount of oil as you do flour)

When the onions and mushrooms have gotten soft and developed a little color, add 1-2 tablespoon flour per cup of stock, and stir well to combine.

Let the flour cook for a minute or so and then add the wine. (about ½ cup or so)

Simmer until thickened and the alcohol is cooked off.

Add about 1 cup stock and toss in some herbs if you’d like to do so. Just use a light hand with the herbs. If you want more sauce, add more stock and increase the amount of flour and oil.

Continue to cook, stirring constantly, until the sauce is thickened.

To serve—

Set the finished roulades on a cutting board. Cut each one in half, on the bias.

Spoon some mushroom wine sauce onto each plate.

Artfully arrange the two halves of each roulade on a plate (see photo) and drizzle a little more sauce over the top, if you’d like.

Alternatively, you can slice the roulades into 1 inch thick slices and fan them over the sauce on each plate.

Vegetarian version—

You can do a vegetarian version of this dish. It’s a simple alternative.

a block of extra firm tofu and slice it through the middle to make two thin blocks.

Wrap them each, top and bottom, with paper towel and set them under a weight (a baking sheet with a book on top?) to squeeze out as much moisture as possible. Let them rest this way for at least 1 hour.

In a shallow bowl, mix together two tablespoons of the wine you’ll be using for the sauce (Marsala, Madeira, Port, Sherry, or Sweet Vermouth) with 4 tablespoons no-chicken stock, 2 cloves garlic, pressed, a gentle squeeze of fresh lemon, and 2 teaspoons olive oil.

Cut each of the tofu blocks crosswise into 4 planks. Submerge them in the marinade and let them soak up those flavors for at least an hour.

Skip the flour dredging step and dip each plank into the egg wash and then into the breadcrumbs.

Heat a glug of olive oil in a skillet and pan-fry the tofu planks until golden on each side.

To serve, place a serving of stuffing on each plate and top with 4 tofu planks.

For the sake of aesthetics, try to arrange the stuffing into a rectangle, the size and shape to accommodate the tofu planks.

Drizzle with some of the mushroom wine sauce and serve.