This recipe is very typical of the Italian capital although it is consumed throughout the country. It is extremely easy to do. In Italian butcher shops it is common to hear buyers requesting a cut of meat for saltimbocca. It is a fine cut, finer than usual, of veal meat, if possible free of nerve and fat. This type of cut is not usually found in other countries, which is why I use scallops or scallops that we will work to make it fine and large.
INGREDIENTS :
• Schnitzel, thin escalope (generally the portion is 2 or 3 units per person)
• Italian prosciuto, one slice per escalope
• Fresh sage leaves (again, one per slice of escalope)
• Salt
• Wheat flour
• Extra virgin olive oil or butter
• White wine (Marsala is generally used in Italy)
Regarding the sage leaves, it should be noted that they are the grace of the recipe and cannot be replaced by any other plant or herb.
First of all we are going to convert the normal escalopes into suitable for saltimbocca, unless you have an Italian butcher nearby and it can provide such cuts.
Otherwise we must flatten them. To do this, we put them in a fold of plastic wrap and crush them with something flat until their size is twice the current size. If they have nerves or fat, remove them or else when you fry it, it will contract taking a concave shape that will prevent the opposite side from cooking well.
Take the fillets obtained and spread them out in a dish or similar. On each of them you deposit a slice of prosciutto. It is customary that the shape of the ham adapts to that of the meat, for which you will cut off what is left over. And on top, as the last layer, a fresh sage leaf is placed. So that the set does not disassemble, it is punctured with a toothpick that crosses the three layers at a point and punctures again before the end of the sage leaf.
Generally they are not folded, nor are they made "rolls", although you can do it if you feel like it. I say this because there you will find some suggestions about it. The whole is floured. The original recipe calls for it to be fried in butter. Nothing happens if it is made with extra virgin olive oil, especially if you are scared of calories. Frying is fast, remember that the meat is now thin and the ham does not really need cooking. It should take color but not be blackened. Between 40 seconds and a minute and a half should be enough for each side. Salt lightly. Remove and reserve.
Then the usual practice is to thicken the oil or butter to make a kind of sauce. To thicken it, the fact of having used wheat flour for the batter will help. Add a glass of white wine and if you want butter (if you have used oil for frying). 50 grams of butter should suffice.
Heat is given until the liquid becomes somewhat pasty (flour thicken effect) and if this does not happen or we are going to consume all the liquid before it happens, we can gradually add new flour (cook this new flour well or the sauce will taste to raw flour). Do not make this sauce if the flour has burned in the pan before, which will surely happen if you have made many saltimboccas (unless the oil is changed regularly). The resulting sauce is used to bathe the saltimboccas, sometimes as a base or background and rarely in the sauce boat.
As it is a very good dish but it is not satiating, it must be accompanied by something forceful such as mushrooms, white rice, mashed potatoes, etc.
To finish, indicate that the term "saltimbocca" is Roman dialect and means jump in the mouth. I leave you the mystery of why it is called that…