Pumpkin and Spice

Everyone needs a little stash of "date night" recipes (regardless of whether one is a singleton or a smug married.) A good date night recipe is something a little more special than weeknight dinners,  a little bit impressive, and, ideally, not too time consuming. I mean, the point of date night is spending time with that special someone- and as much as I love to cook and bake, I do not consider my oven a "special someone".

Usually, Kyle and I go out on Saturday nights, but as we have a stack of borrowed DVDs that we've been meaning to watch, we decided to stay in this weekend. That put the duty of date night dinner on my shoulders. After rummaging through the fridge and a little brainstorming, I ran (not literally) to the store to grab a couple supplemental ingredients and threw together this- Italian Chicken Roulade with Fondue Sauce. "Roulade" is just fancy talk for something that's rolled up like a swiss roll. Mine is a chicken breast that's been butterflied, spread with a little sundried tomato pesto (I buy jarred pesto- basil's too pricey for me to buy enough to make pesto), topped with prosciutto, then rolled up. The top is brushed with a bit more pesto, then baked and sauced with a fondue made of delish Italian cheeses. Check out the cross section- pretty, isn't it?

Italian Chicken Roulade with Fondue Sauce
Serves 2 (with a little extra fondue)

For the Chicken-

• 2 Chicken breasts
• 4T pesto (I used Classico Sundried Tomato Pesto)
• 2oz prosciutto

Preheat oven to 350F. Butterfly the breasts- Slice the breast in half crosswise (leave one half thicker than the other), leaving the halves connected. Open up (like a book) and slice the thicker half in half again and unfold. This sounds harder than it is- here's and illustration (in the last picture it has pesto on it).

Spread each breast with about 1T pesto. Top the pesto with the prosciutto. Starting at whichever end is the least pretty, roll the breast up. Secure with a toothpick or skewer and rub with another 1T pesto. Bake the breasts in a glass dish for about 30min or until the internal temperature is 165F and the juices run clear. While the breasts bake, make your fondue sauce.

Fondue Sauce-

• 3/4c white wine (I used Chardonnay)
• 4oz Fontina cheese, shredded
• 2oz provelone cheese (smoked, if you like), shredded
• 1/2T flour
• pinch nutmeg
• a few grinds of pepper

In a saucepan, bring the wine to just barely a simmer. Toss the cheeses and the flour together. Add the cheese a handful at a time to the wine, stirring until melted after each addition. Once all the cheese is melted, add the nutmeg and pepper. If your sauce is thicker than you would like, you can thin it with a little more wine.

Once the chicken is done, remove the toothpick and plate it. Top with a bit of sauce. Garnish with sliced green onions or basil. Serve with a nice wine and good bread- you'll have extra fondue. (The fondue can also be saved and reheated in the microwave.)

(I've noticed looking back at past posts that I eat a lot of broccoli. Almost every dinner I've posted has broccoli as a side dish...)