Monday Dinner Chicken Saltimbocca

Sometimes nothing feels better than eating out of the freezer. I am a big offender of putting things into my freezer and never bringing them out again until I can't figure out if they are still edible or not. So, many things wind up finding themselves transported to the garbage bin. You will see from later posts, I'm sure, that there are many things I intentionally freeze in large batches as a result of a cooking expedition. But it's those packages of meat or bits of this and that which are often wasted. Here, I used a package of chicken tenders. Whenever I see them, I'm always drawn to buying them because the tender is my favorite part of the chicken breast. After all, it is aptly named the tender. So, I'm sure one day I purchased these, and for whatever reason, did not used them and put them in my freezer. I had some left over prosciutto in my fridge, so what else to make but chicken saltimbocca. After defrosting the tenders, I soaked them in salted water for about 10 minutes. I think this draws out the blood and makes the chicken even more tender. It's like a mini brine. Rinse, pat dry and wrap each piece in 1/2 slice of prosciutto. I brought them to room temp before cooking and sauteed them in half butter half olive oil. For the sauce, I used vermouth (since I didn't have any white wine open), lemon juice, honey, fresh sage leaf and chicken broth. To thicken, I used a little bit of cornstarch and water. The asparagus was cooked under the broiler with just a drizzle of olive oil and sprinkle of salt. Leftovers are perfect for the kids in tomorrow's lunch with a little spaghetti with grated mizithra cheese.