Saltimbocca alla Romana
Veal and Prosciutto Cutlets
Saltimbocca alla Romana is an extremely
simple dish. It consists of a thin veal cutlet topped with sage leaves and prosciutto and quickly saut&eeacute;ed in buter and white wine. I didn't have high expectations for it but the dish really blew my mind - it was
absolutely delicious! It really lived up to its name, "jumps in (the) mouth". As I write about it, I'm craving it again.
This dish is associated with Rome, but the use of butter to fry the cutlet suggests it came from elsewhere, northern Italy most likely. Roman chefs have added
some olive oil to make it theirs, however, and it's traditionally made with cheap Lazian frascati wine. As that can be hard to find in California, I used ubiquitous and
cheap pinot grigio, instead. It worked great. I didn't use veal, as I don't eat it, but saltimboca works just as well with beef. In this case I used thinly cut top sirloin steaks, as they were on sale that week, but my
experience with milanesas suggests that you can use thinly cut top round, tri-tip or boneless NY strip or ribeye - just stay away from bottom round. Chicken saltimboca is also very popular in America.
p>Traditionally, fully sage leaves are used - but the chef whose recipe I followed prefers to use dried sage as the sage leaves can be tough and uncomfortable to bite through. I compromised and just chopped fresh sage leaves -
again, this worked remarkably well. Fastening with toothpicks is a must, flouring is not, but it helps thicken the sauce. The recipe below is for 1 or 2 cutlets, depending on size. You are basically constrained by the size of
your sauté pan. I found that, given then thinness of the cutlets, this is only enough for one person. To serve more, I wiped the pan and started over.
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Saltimbocca alla Romana
Ingredients
For one serving:
- 1 or 2 large, very thin veal or beef cutlets
- salt to taste
- sage leaves or dried sage to taste
- 2 - 4 slices prosciutto
- toothpicks
- 1/4 cup flour, sifted
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 Tbsp butter
- 1/2 cup frascati or other dry white wine
Directions
Trim the cutlets and cut them so they can fit in your sauté pan. Tenderize them using a mallet, tenderizer or your fists. Place them on a working surface, and season them with salt to taste. Cover them with sage leaves or dried sage. Lay a slice or two of prosciutto on top of the sage. Using toothpicks, fasten the prosciutto to the cutlets. Coat both sides of each cutlet with flour. Set aside.
Melt oil and butter together on a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the cutlets and cook for a minute. Add the wine and continue cooking, turning, until the cutlets are cooked through and the sauce has thickened. Remove the toothpicks and serve the cutlets topped with the sauce.
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Adapted from Elio Mariani's recipe at DW's Food
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