Saltimbocca alla Romana is an Italian veal dish with prosciutto and sage. The dish officially comes from the Lazio region where Rome is also located. Saltimbocca in Roman fashion (Saltimbocca alla Romana) is the only main dish of Italian cuisine whose recipe has been officially approved and recorded. In 1962, chefs in Venice agreed on this recipe. Usually the sage leaf is pinned to the meat with a cocktail stick. Chef Max Mariola shows on Youtube that this is not necessary. In this dish, therefore, I do not use cocktail sticks.
Ingredients (4 persons)
- 4 veal escalopes of 125 gr. each
- 4 slices of prosciutto
- 4-12 sage leaves
- 50 gr. butter
- splash of olive oil
- 100 ml. dry white wine
- pepper
Prepare
Place a veal escalope on a piece of butcher foil and cover with a piece of butcher foil. Using a meat mallet or rolling pin, beat the meat flat. The meat should be about 5 mm. If necessary, ask the butcher to beat the meat flat in advance, but also beat the meat flat yourself as it will be the thinnes.
Sprinkle the meat with pepper. I personally do not use salt as the prosciutto is already salty enough. Of course, should you wish, you can sprinkle the meat with salt.
Place 1 or 2 sage leaves on the meat. Do this depending on the size of the meat and the size of the sage leaf.
Next, place a slice of prosciutto over the sage-covered meat and cover again with butcher’s foil. Slap the prosciutto on the meat so that it sticks together. Op deze manier hoef je geen cocktailprikker te gebruiken. This way you don’t have to use a cocktail stick.
Lightly dip the meat in the flour. Make sure both sides are covered with flour. Shake off the excess flour from the meat.
Heat a pan over high heat with butter and olive oil. Don’t use all the butter yet, myself I use about 30-40 grams of butter for baking. Add the remaining sage leaves to the butter for flavor.
Fry the meat, first fry the side of the prosciutto and when brown turn over and fry the bottom of the meat. Make sure the meat doesn’t touch each other to get it evenly browned. When the meat is cooked, add the white wine and let the wine evaporate. I cut the meat into smaller pieces when I pour in the wine, so that everything can fry side by side.
Remove the meat from the pan and set aside warm. Add the remaining butter to the gravy and mix well. This way you get a sauce. Remove the sage from the butter sauce.
Serve
Place the meat on preheated plates and pour the butter/wine sauce over the meat. Serve some vegetables with this, if desired. I usually serve this dish after we eat risotto so I don’t serve pasta with it. Serve this with a light red wine like a Sangiovese or a white Pinot Grigio.
