julie chicken

This recipe goes back many years with us. In 1974, when we first moved to the central coast of California, Julia Child had a television show called “Julia Child’s Kitchen.” Larry and I started seeing her and felt that she was the first person who really helped us start down the road to Mediterranean-style cooking.

One day, Julia Child did a quick demo of something she liked but had never made it into any of her cookbooks. It was something like this recipe. We didn’t get all the instructions, but we more or less got the main idea. It sounded so good!

That weekend, when Larry wasn’t in grad school, we tried to do it. We liked it, although we weren’t so sure if it was like his version.

Over the many years since then we have made it many times and as we were more influenced by the Italian style of cooking the recipe evolved with us.

This recipe is also a “safe bet” when you’re unsure of your guests’ personal taste preferences.

Now we would like to share our recipe with you. Out of gratitude and respect we call our version, ‘Chicken Julia’.

Chicken “Julia” for two

Ingredients.

• 2 half chicken breasts
• 2 slices low-moisture mozzarella cheese
• Dijon Style Mustard
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour in a bowl
• 1/4 cup of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 pound fresh tomatoes, peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped
• 2/3 cup of Dry White Wine, Sauvignon or Fume Blanc
• 2 tablespoons green onions, chopped both green and white parts
• 2 tablespoons green onions, the green part thinly sliced ​​to decorate
• 8 ounces fresh wild mushrooms, shitake, oyster, sliced

Preparation

1. Place a chicken breast between a sheet of plastic wrap, or in a plastic bag, and pound with a mallet until you have a thin fillet about 1/4-inch thick. Pound the breast so it’s roughly rectangular in shape when you’re done.
2. You are going to roll up the brisket, so look at it and decide which end of the rectangle is the narrowest.
3. Place the “rough side” of the chicken breast face up. Lightly salt and pepper the breast, then spread a thin layer of Dijon mustard on top. Then place a slice of mozzarella cheese on top, toward the narrow end.
4. Starting at the narrow end, roll the chicken breast into a log shape.
5. Salt and pepper the rolled brisket, then gently roll the brisket in the flour to lightly flour the brisket. If desired, you can hold the roll closed with a toothpick, but this is usually not necessary.
6. Put the olive oil in a frying pan and bring to medium heat. When the oil is hot, place the chicken rolls in the pan and sauté until golden brown. The rolls will spill over, that’s fine, the drippings will be part of the sauce. Remove chicken rolls from skillet and cover to keep warm.
7. If you have a lot of oil in the pan, remove some now, then place the chopped green onions and mushrooms in the pan. Saute until the mushrooms have lost all their liquid and are lightly browned.
8. Over high heat add the white wine and deglaze the pan. Reduce the wine while gently moving the pan back and forth, until you have a thick syrup.
9. Add the chopped tomatoes to the skillet and cook over medium heat until the tomatoes break up and reduce to a nice thick sauce.
10. To serve, place a good spoonful of sauce on a hot plate. Place a chicken roll on top of the sauce, then pour some tomato sauce over the roll. Garnish with some of the reserved green onion and serve immediately.

serving suggestions

We like to serve this meal with brown rice on the side.

This dish pairs very well with a robust Rhône-style white wine such as a Roussanne or Viognier. It also goes equally well with a robust Chardonnay.