Pollo alla Valdostana

Pollo alla Valdostana (Chicken Valdostana)

This dish is said to come from the Val d’Aosta region of northern Italy. There are, naturally, different variations but they all should contain white wine, prosciutto, and fontina cheese. I decided to make the sauce separately (couldn't get it to work in the pan) after I realised that the sauce was almost identical to Velouté.

Ingredients

1 chicken breast	30 ml dry white wine (see note 1)
as required plain flour (1)	salt to taste
2 - 3 tbspn olive oil	black pepper to taste
6 - 8 gm unsalted butter	40 gm cheese - or to taste (see note 2)
6 - 8 gm (about 2 tspn) plain flour (2)	30 gm - or to taste prosciutto (Parma Ham)
120 ml chicken stock (see note 1)

Preparation

Place the chicken between 2 sheets of cling film and flatten to a uniform ¼ inch thickness with a rolling pin or similar.
Season the chicken and dust with flour on both sides.
Slice the cheese as required.

Cooking - about 10 min

Heat the oil in a frying pan, over a high heat, and fry the chicken for 3 min on each side (total 6 min) ensuring that the chicken is fully cooked, then set aside, keeping warm in the pan under a low grill.
Heat the chicken stock without boiling.
Using a second pan melt the butter over a low heat and add the flour (2), stirring until the roux takes on a pale straw colour.
Remove from the heat and add the hot stock, stirring.
Return to the heat and cook over a low heat, stirring, until the sauce thickens to your liking.
Season the sauce to taste.
Wrap the prosciutto around the chicken and top with a slice of cheese and place under a moderate grill to heat through and melt the cheese.

Serving

Serve topped with the sauce and some pasta or vegetables of choice.

Notes

(1) If you choose not to use wine, increase the stock from 120 to 150 ml. The stock used will influence the flavour so use the best you can get.
(2) Traditionally Fontina cheese would be used. If this is difficult to source, then any of the following can be used instead - Gouda, Gruyere, Emmental or Leerdammer.

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