Chicken Modena

La cucina piccola fal la casa grande.
A small kitchen makes the house big. Italian Proverb

I have a small kitchen so I can relate to this proverb, I call it a one “can” kitchen, but often wish that it was better designed for more than one cook, my husband refuses to let me ” break on through to the other side” for the kitchen of my dreams, does “dream on” say it all or what?   So I remind myself of this Italian proverb on a daily basis…

Chicken Modena
Way back in the 60’s I received a copy of The Flavor of Italy, in recipes and pictures, pretty black and white pictures and a recipe on each page, can’t get more basic than that and the compact book was $5.95 now a true treasure in my kitchen.

While I make many of the recipes in the book the one that is most popular and requested for dinner celebrations around here is “Chicken Modena”, breaded cutlets layered with prosciutto and Fontina cheese.  The original recipe calls for Canadian bacon and Swiss cheese and I can honestly say that I’ve never tried that version as we changed it to included prosciutto and Fontina.

I always have homemade breadcrumbs on hand and add a little more grated parm and lemon zest for this recipe.

2-3 cups fresh homemade seasoned breadcrumbs
8 thin sliced chicken cutlets, pounded to an even thickness
3 eggs, whisked
Salt and pepper
Flour for dredging (season it as well)
12 slices Fontina Cheese
12 slices prosciutto
6 Tablespoons butter
4 Tablespoons EVOO

Dredge cutlets in flour, egg and finally the bread crumbs, place on rack in a sheet pan and refrigerate until ready to sauté.

Sauté cutlets in butter and olive oil (in batches if necessary) 3-4 minutes until golden brown on each side.  Place a cutlet on each layer of prosciutto and cheese and layer once again with prosciutto and cheese.

Butter a baking dish that is large enough to hold all of the cutlets, layer a slice of prosciutto for each cutlet and cover with sliced cheese.  Bake in 400° oven until cheese is melted, serve with lemon wedges.