Prepping the chicken while the sauce simmers puts time on your your side with this recipe. Sure it take a little over an hour, but it’s absolutely worth it.
If you’d like a thicker sauce, remove the chicken rolls after cooking and place the sauce back on a burner for a few minutes while you remove the toothpicks from the chicken.
Time: 75 minutes
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
8 ounces mushrooms – sliced
1 onion – diced
2 cloves garlic – finely chopped or grated
28 ounce can whole tomatoes
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
8 boneless-skinless chicken thighs
12 basil leaves
8 ounces Italian sausage – without casing
Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 375F.
While the oven is heating, place a dutch oven on medium heat and add the olive oil.
Add the mushrooms, stirring occasionally for five minutes, then add the onion and garlic, stirring occasionally for five more minutes.
Crush the tomatoes between your fingers and add them to the dutch oven with their juice. Stir in one teaspoon of the salt and a half teaspoon of the pepper.
While the sauce simmers, unroll the chicken thighs on a cutting board and cover with a sheet of plastic wrap. Using the flat side of a meat hammer or a heavy pan, pound the chicken until thin and flat.
Remove the plastic wrap and place a basil leaf on each thigh. Roll the sausage into eight cylinders and place one on each thigh. Wrap the chicken around the sausage and basil to form rolls. Use toothpicks to hold the rolls together. Sprinkle the rolls with the remaining salt and pepper.
Remove the dutch oven from the heat, tear and stir in the remaining basil and place the chicken rolls in the sauce, submerging as much as possible. Bake uncovered for forty minutes.
Remove the toothpicks from the chicken and serve with the sauce.