Chicken Saltimbocca

I have made many different variations of this dish, and when I did a quick Google search to see what the classic version was, it seems that all you really need for a dish to be called saltimbocca is chicken (or veal), sage, and prosciutto. You can make this as simple or as complicated as you'd like. Here's what I did earlier this week:

3 chicken breasts, cut into thirds, pounded to about 1/4 inch thick

1 package of proscuttio (8 slices?), cut in half

1 large shallot, sliced

2 cloves of garlic

~1 tsp dried sage, or 1 fresh leaf for each piece of chicken

8oz mushrooms (optional), sliced

2 T capers (optional)

1/3 c chicken stock

juice of 1 lemon

salt and pepper

Slice the chicken breasts in thirds on a diagonal, basically making the pieces as evenly sized as possible. Take a ziploc freezer bag and drip a few drops of water in it- this will keep the chicken from sticking to the bag as you pound it. Put one piece of chicken in the bag at a time and do not seal. I use a heavy pan to evenly and gradually pound the chicken until it is ~ 1/4 inch thick.

After all the chicken is pounded, sprinkle with salt, pepper, and sage. Sage is a pretty strong herb, so use as much or as little as you like. If you are using fresh sage, just place one leaf on each piece of chicken, and then a piece of prosciutto on top. Otherwise, just put a piece of prosciutto on top of each piece.

Once all the chicken is prepped, heat a very large skillet over medium-high heat with whatever fat you want to cook with. I used olive oil. Once the pan gets really hot place a few pieces of chicken in the pan prosciutto side down. It is very important that the pan is very hot so the prosciutto will sear onto the chicken. Don't move the chicken for a couple of minutes, then flip and sear on the other side for about 2 minutes. The chicken is thin, so it should cook pretty quickly. You will have to do this in batches, I did 3 pieces of chicken at a time.

When all the chicken is cooked and removed to a plate, add more oil if needed, and throw in the shallots and garlic. Sautee for about 30 seconds, then add the mushrooms. We got some oyster mushrooms from an asian market (only $3 for 8 0z instead of at least double that price at a grocery store), but you could use whatever you'd like- white button, cremini. Cook until soft then, with the pan still very hot, pour in the chicken broth to get all the delicious bits off the bottom of the pan. Let the liquid come up to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. It will start to thicken up. Add a squeeze of lemon right at the end, and the capers. At this point you can serve the sauce right over the chicken, or add the chicken back into the pan to reheat.

Boredom (and a couple of recipes, too)

Trying to stick with an exercise routine? Better switch it up *cough*CrossFit*cough* to keep yourself interested. You started mountain biking? Great! Now how long would you stick with it if you only rode the same trail over and over? So our venture into paleo(ish) eating shouldn't be any different.

Everyone has their go-to foods- you know they are good for you; you know how to cook them; you know you don't hate them (chicken and broccoli sound familiar?). Ok, it's time to add some excitement to your life.

CSA box

For the past few years (except this year; we are determined to have a successful garden this season!) my household has received a CSA box once a week. CSA stands for "community supported agriculture"...you are basically buying into a share of a farm's harvest, whatever it may be. By signing on for one of these things you are supporting your local farming community and getting delicious organic veggies at a great price (ours came out to $22/week for a household of 4 adults), and you have a chance to try some things you would never really consider buying at the grocery store. Here are just a few things the CSA box introduced me to: pumpkin (and I mean, like, an actual pumpkin that I had to figure out how to cook, not a can of pumpkin puree), parsley root, romanesco, turnips, green garlic, and agretti. Here are the links to the two farms that I used to get my veggies from (they now operate their own individual CSA programs)

Mariquita Farms

High Ground Farms

Spices

I'm not even going to tell you how many different spices we have in our kitchen. A lot. A lot a lot. And I think I've attempted to make something with every single one. When we go to the grocery store we always check the spice aisle because sometimes there is a sale (spices can be pretty pricey) and we stock up on our basics- cayenne pepper, chili powder, thyme, rosemary, etc- and then sometimes, when we're feeling a little crazy, we'll get something like annato seed, or cardamom, or caraway seeds. And then figure out what to do with it. I definitely grew up in a household where the spice cabinet consisted of salt and pepper and that's it (love you mom!) so it's fun to experiment by making our own rubs for bbq-ing, or trying to replicate the amazing food from Los Cubanos.

Have you ever...?

I learned to cook from watching the Food Network. I really did. Now I'm learning to cook again by poking around every single paleo website known to man and I'm still seeing things I never would've thought of on my own. Every week I'll try to post something like yesterday's "Have you ever...?" and hopefully you will say, "No, I never!" and then go try it.

Ok, here are the recipes for the rest of my meal from yesterday.....

Pork loin marinade:

Juice and zest of 1 orange

Juice of 2 limes (zest of 1 lime)

Juice and zest of 1 lemon

6 cloves of garlic, minced

1 1/2 t dried oregano

1 t salt

1 t cumin

1 t black pepper

This is a very quick marinade based on a Cuban "Mojo". Quick to put together and quick to do the job. You do not need to let the pork marinate for more than an hour or so.... actually you wouldn't want to because longer than that and the pork will end up mushy from all the citrus. Yuck. After that, you pretty much just grill it until it reaches an internal temperature of about 150. Then (and this goes for all meat!) let it rest before you slice it so the juices don't all run out, otherwise you will have a big mess AND dry meat, and nobody wants that.

Cucumber and Tomato Salad (shout out to Dato for introducing this to me):

2 cucmbers, sliced into half moons

2 tomatoes, sliced into half moons

2-3 green onions, sliced or chopped

Handful of cilantro, roughly chopped

Equal parts red wine vinegar and olive oil, maybe just under 1/4 c each? (I add a little more vinegar)

Salt and pepper to taste

Um... mix it all together in a bowl! I like to let it sit for 10 minutes before eating.

Favorite Websites

I decided to start this blog after hearing a few people at Crossfit Cadence (most recently Austin) saying that they get bored with eating the same thing everyday, and that they would love to have a place where we could interact with each other, ask questions, post our favorite recipes, etc... so (hopefully) this is it! Let me tell you, I have done the research for you! When we did the paleo challenge back in November I obsessively looked for recipes and resources, simply because I love to eat good food.

The title of this blog is "mostly paleo" because I'm not super strict about eating paleo. However, I'm not super lax either. I did 30 days completely paleo in November, and that allowed me to really notice what I could and could not add back into my diet. My body just kinda went ahead and made those decisions for me after those 30 days. My tastes have changed a bit and the biggest indicator to me that I can't tolerate something anymore is sleep. I've always had trouble sleeping and when I am eating strictly paleo I sleep better, and when I eat certain things I sleep horribly. It's that simple for me now. For other people you might discover that certain things upset your stomach, affect your energy level, change the condition of your hair or skin.... but you can really only figure that out if you eat "clean" for a while and then experiment with adding foods back in.

So, right off the bat I thought I would post my three favorite websites, and a few tried and true recipes from each.

Elana's Pantry

I've made countless awesome desserts from this website, and I even ordered her almond flour cookbook. But the savory dishes I've tried have been amazing, too. She always uses grapeseed oil, I always substitute coconut oil or butter (you can substitute it 1:1); she always uses agave nectar and I always use honey as a sweetener- in many cases I cut the amount of sweetener in half and it turns out just fine.

Chicken with cherries and kale

Bran muffins

Banana bread

Foodee

This is the best collection of paleo recipes around (well, for now... just wait till this blog gets rolling!) I found this meatloaf recipe on there the other day and it turned out great! Personally, just because I knew it was in there, I could taste the coconut milk. So I would probably use regular milk instead (since I'm not too strict on dairy)... but my non-paleo counterpart, Dato, thought it was some of the best meatloaf he's had.

Mark's Daily Apple

This website has lots of great ideas and insights. I got his Primal Blueprint Cookbook for my birthday and every dish has been a big hit in my house so far.

The chocolate chip cookies from this post are easy to make and more than satisfying. I've even made them with just raisins instead of chocolate chips and they were great.

These egg muffins are borderline genius and you can put whatever you want in them.

What are your "go-to" websites when you're trying to figure out what to cook? Post them to comments!