CHICKEN AND FONTINA CHEESE CASSEROLE

Growing up, we didn't eat many casseroles. My mother considered them "ah-mid-i-gan." Since she was a third generation Italian American, that was pretty funny, but she thought peanut butter was poison, too. Certain of her dishes would surely have qualified as casseroles, but casseroles were something that Betty Crocker made, not "real" cooks who didn't need to write down recipes. Find the right ingredients, though, and no matter what you call it, it's delicious, as was this wonderfully rich dish. This isn't something you'd eat every day--unless your metabolism runs on high gear and you have no fear of coronary heart disease. But everything in moderation is my motto.

Pollo e Fontina
1/2 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

freshly ground black pepper

1/2 tsp ground nutmet

2 lbs chicken cutlets, pounded 1/4 inch thick

3/4 cup canola oil

2 tbs butter

1/2 lb mushrooms, stemmed and cut in half

1/2 pint heavy cream

1/2 lb Fontina cheese, cut into chunks

1/4 lb prosciutto, cut into 2 inch strips

1/2 cup Locatelli Romano cheese, grated

2 Roma tomatoes, sliced into rounds

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Place the flour, salt, a few grinds of pepper, and the nutmeg in a plastic bag, close, and shake to blend. Add the chicken cutlets, a few at a time, and dredge them in the mixture. Place the cutlets on a plate and set aside.

Pour the oil into a large saute pan and heat to medium high. Brown the cutlets on each side, a few at a time. Transfer the cutlets to a shallow baking dish.

In the same saute pan, melt the butter and cook the mushrooms until they begin to brown.

Combine the cream and Fontina cheese in a saucepan over low heat and stir until the cheese is melted and the sauce is smooth. Cover and set aside.

Sprinkle the mushrooms over the cutlets. Lay the prosciutto strips over the mushrooms. Pour the cheese sauce over all.

Place the tomato slices over the sauce and sprinkle with the grated cheese.

Bake for 35 minutes, until cheese is bubbly and browned.

We had lots of leftovers and I diced some of them, added a box of defrosted and squeezed-dry chopped spinach, and used that as a topping for a wonderful pizza, having had dough left from the last Daring Bakers' challenge.

Wow! Just realized this is my 100th post.