Italian-Asian Fusion

Seriously? Italian and Asian? Well, sort of. If you count the egg roll wrappers sold in the produce section of your supermarket as an Asian ingredient, then yes.

But technically, it's pasta. Shall we recount the Marco Polo legend about bringing pasta from China to Italy? Nah - this is a cooking blog.

Anyway, I did this recipe once before on TV and called it "Italian Chicken Bundles." With all of the changes in television technology, I needed a high definition version of the dish and in the process renamed the bundles "purses."

Perhaps I should have led with this: This recipe is one of my all-time favorites. When I was in the personal chef business, my clients loved this dish. It's designed to be an appetizer or first course, but most of the people who've tried my recipe report back that they made a dinner out of them.

Here's a picture of what it looks like. I think you'll see that, based on appearances alone, it's a beautiful dish. Tasting the filling will confirm it.

Your muffin tin is the perfect vessel to make the "purses." While the egg roll wrappers may seem to be sturdy pieces of pasta, they actually tear quite easily, so it's important to be gentle while pushing the wrapper into the muffin cup. Try to center it so that when you go to close it, the ends of the wrapper come together uniformly. It will make for a good looking bundle or purse after it finishes baking.

The ingredients in the filling are fairly mild, especially with the ricotta cheese and chicken. So I jazzed up the dish by placing the purse in a pool of spicy marinara. If spicy isn't your thing, then a regular tomato sauce or pasta sauce will do.

Here's the video followed by the recipe:

1 1/2 cups chicken breasts, cooked and cubed (bite sized)
3 large green onions, sliced thin
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium to large garlic clove, minced
2/3 cup gated Parmesan cheese
2 spinach bunches, washed, stemmed, steamed and minced
8 ounces Ricotta cheese
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
salt and pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons butter
12 egg roll wrappers

Marinara sauce for serving

 

Preheat the oven to 350.

Cook chicken and green onions in the oil over medium-high heat until chicken is lightly browned and onions are soft. Add garlic and cook one minute longer.Let cool slightly then combine 1/2 of the Parmesan with the spinach, ricotta, oregano and nutmeg. Season with salt and pepper.
 
In a 12-cup muffin tin, brush melted butter into 10 of the 12 muffin cups, reserving half of the melted butter for later. Carefully press one egg roll wrapper into a muffin cup and fill with the chicken mixture. Close egg roll wrapper over filling by gathering the ends and gently twisting. Brush with some of the remaining melted butter.
 
Continue until all 10 muffin tins are filled.
 
Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes, or until lightly browned on top.
 

Serve in a pool of marinara sauce and garnish with additional Parmesan cheese and Italian parsley sprigs.