Chicken and Gorgonzola Roulade | You've Got Meal!

For some strange reason, people tend to appreciate meat roulades at a dinner table. Apparently, there seems to be some sort of fear of making such a dish or trying it. I remember my mom cooking meat rolls only a couple of times and on special occasions. And I remember my dad saying we have to say it was good. Don’t know why he said that, the dish was great. Is that ok, Dad? You’re now safe if she reads this post.

For me, making a roulade is a more interesting way of using a rather dull meat like chicken breast. Combine that with a couple of savory ingredients like Gorgonzola cheese, artichokes, cipolline borettane and the all-mighty bacon and you can elevate the pour poultry piece. 

Let’s talk ingredients: 

• a couple of pieces of chicken breast meat, 
• sweet gorgonzola, 
• artichoke hearts, 
• cipolline borettane (you can caramelize some baby onions if you don’t have them around), 
• thin bacon strips for covering the rolls, 
• salt, pepper, chili flakes. 

You can use a whole breast, but be careful how you cut it. The idea is to get a couple of pieces of meat that you can tenderize with a meat hammer (or a rolling pin) and bring to a shape works for the roulade. We got 4 “sheets” of chicken meat from 1 breast, enough for some medium rolls.

Place the flattened meat on the work surface and season it with salt, pepper and chili flakes on the inside. Put a small amount of cheese in the center and a couple of artichoke hearts and roll the meat. Don’t overdo it with the cheese, too much of it will melt and burn in the pan/oven. 

Use the bacon strips to cover the rolls, make sure they’re nice and covered all over the place -  it will help you keep the cheese in and not burn. We also made a roll using the same amount of cheese and some cipolline borettane instead of the artichokes – asparagus will also work really nice. Cook the roulade in the hot pan, medium high heat, in a couple of tbs. of olive oil, for 2-3 minutes, then straight in the preheated oven,190 Celsius for 15-20 minutes.

As a side dish, we tried to mix things up with some Jerusalem artichokes. So, we got a couple of nice potatoes, pop them in the oven to bake, alongside some Jerusalem artichokes and garlic, none of those peeled, only cleaned. After the potatoes are done, remove 1 quarter of the spud and use a spoon to remove the inside of the remaining potato. Use a knife or a spoon to remove the Jerusalem artichoke’s white insides, and mix that well with some Gorgonzola, salt, pepper and the potato you pulled out. Use the mixture to fill in the spud, sprinkle some hot paprika on top. Serve the potato with the chicken and some valerian salad sprinkled with some lemon juice and olive juice. As an added bonus, grab a chilled bottle of Sauvignon Blanc and enjoy a light, simple dinner.

Enjoy,