Chicken Involtini

An elegant dish for company, this one is well worth the time invested.

Mats:
6 thin-cut chicken cutlets
2 roasted red peppers
12 leaves of fresh basil
6 oz fresh mozzarella
1/4c Nicoise olives
skewers. I use bamboo skewers, you can also use metal shish-kebab skewers or even chopsticks

Lay a sheet of wax paper down on top of a cutting board. Place a chicken cutlet on the wax paper, then put another sheet of wax paper over the chicken. Gently pound the chicken flat(ter) using a rolling pin. Start from the center and work outwards, being careful to not make it so thin it tears. Repeat for all the cutlets.

In another corner of your cutting board, take the roasted red peppers and slice them into 1 inch thick strips.

Take one of your flattened chickens, and lay a pepper strip on top of it.

Cut a 1 oz round of mozzarella and place on top of the pepper

Place 2 basil leaves on top of the cheese.

Now the tricky part: Rolling. Starting from the narrowest part of the chicken cutlet roll the cutlet down to the base. You'll end up making a tube of chicken with the pepper, cheese and basil rolled up in it. It'll kinda look like a cinnamon bun. Secure with a skewer by piercing the chicken breast all the way through and out the other end.

Heat a grill to 350, or a medium temperature if you're using a real grill. I use my panini press. Use about 1/2 tsp olive oil to coat the exterior chicken, then season with salt and pepper.

Grill for 4 minutes (I close my panini lid to squish them and cook both sides at once), then rotate and cook for an additional 3 minutes.

Transfer to a plate, remove the skewers and serve.

I matched this dish with a spinach and arugula salad, fresh tomatoes, a bit of my leftover mozzarella and a homemade balsamic vinaigrette.

To easily remove skewers without wrecking your involtini, rotate them in place first. When they spin freely in their holes, push them through the roll.