appetizer

This roulade, which by the way is just another word for a roll, is devilishly good.

There are countless variations of chicken roulades, in fact. They can be stuffed with basically anything you can imagine. Well, not anything maybe (chocolate chicken roulade might be a little too funky, I guess), but still there are many ingredients that just work perfectly in that lovely rolled up wonder.

Spinach, bacon, cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, shallots – these are just some of the ideas, and the list goes on.

What I love about chicken roulades is how cute they look. This is one of those dinners that will elicit a lot of oohs and wows.

And you know what?

They really are easy to make!

Here’s what we need.

1. First, preheat the oven to 400 °F (200 °C).

2. Place the chicken breast into a Ziploc bag (or between two sheets of plastic wrap).

3. Beat the chicken breast with a meat mallet until about 1/8 inch (3 mm) thin.

This is the ham I had on hand.

It’s beyond yummy!

4. Place two slices of ham lengthwise along middle of the breast.

5. Then place two thin slices of the cheese over the ham.

I use Edam cheese in this recipe. You can, of course, use any kind you like.

Blue cheese.

My true love.

6. Now divide the blue cheese into three equal parts and arrange one third crosswise at the near end of the breast.

We are starting to create the center of our roulade here.

These are red peppers.

I had some pickled ones in my fridge.

Yum!

7. If you are using fresh red pepper then place two thin slices over the blue cheese.

8. And two green pepper slices over the red ones.

9. Roll the chicken roulade from one end to form a cylinder, securing the seam with a couple of toothpicks.

10. Secure the ends as well.

We definitely want to keep those flavorful juices inside.

11. Repeat the process for each of the two remaining chicken breasts.

12. Brush a baking pan with some olive oil and place the roulades inside, the seam side down.

(Tip: You can sear the rolls in a hot oiled pan before putting them into the baking pan – about 2 minutes from each side. That will help keep the juice inside the roll while baking.)

13. In a small bowl, mix the olive oil with salt.

14. And brush the roulades with the oil mixture.

15. Place in the oven and bake (at 400 °F – 200 °C) for 30 minutes.

There will be a little juice in the pan when your remove the roulades from the oven.

Keep it please, it’s precious.

16. Remove the roulades from the pan and let them rest for 5 minutes before doing anything else.

17. Then remove the toothpicks and slice the roulades crosswise into 1/2 inch (1 1/2 cm) rounds.

Then sit down for awhile and feast your eyes on that cute structure you’ve just created.

When serving these cuties, pour a little of that precious and flavorful sauce from the pan over them. That will make them even more moist and delicious.

You can serve these roulades warm with toasts.

Or, to create a more satisfying dish, serve them with mashed potatoes.

And most importantly, ENJOY, dear friends!

(This recipe takes about 1 hour to prepare and makes 3 servings.)