Ingredients for 4 people:400 g chicken breast (2 breasts)100 g white asparagus100 g green asparagus200 g Pecorino Gran Riserva aged 24 months (grated)200 g butter1 jar Asparagina120 g ricotta cheese175 g Extra Virgin Olive Oil50 g pecorino cheese aged 12 months (grated)1 egg yolk1/4 glass white wine1 tbsp Balsamico Bianco½ lemon (the juice and a little of the grated zest) a few leaves of thyme
a few leaves of “mentuccia” (Lesser Calamint)
a few leaves of rosemary salt and pepper
Peel the white asparagus, and eliminate the tough bottom part of both types of asparagus. Wash them thoroughly and blanch them in plenty of salted water: first the white ones (for about 5 minutes), then the green ones (2-3 minutes). Strain them and put them in cold water with ice. After a few minutes, strain them, cut them into pieces roughly 3-4cm long and put them to one side. Now fillet the chicken breasts, pound with a meat mallet until they are very thin and season with salt and pepper to taste. Distribute the Asparagina, pieces of asparagus and grated pecorino cheese on top of the slices of chicken. Then roll them up and tie kitchen string around them to keep them closed. Lay the roulades in an oven dish lined with greaseproof paper, drizzle a little olive oil over them, season with salt and pepper and cook in a preheated oven at 180 °C, for 20 minutes.
While the roulades are in the oven you can make the sauce. First prepare a mayonnaise: put the yolk (at room temperature) in a deep bowl, add a few drops of lemon juice and begin to beat with an electric whisk, at medium speed so that the yolk thickens. Now slowly start to pour in the oil, a little at a time, in order to avoid the mayonnaise separating. Add a bit and wait until it is incorporated, then add some more, always drizzling it in gradually and slowly. When you have added about half of the oil and the mixture has a fairly thick consistency, dilute it with the remaining lemon juice, once more adding it a little at a time. Then, still drizzling it in gradually, finish incorporating all the oil. Now season with salt and pepper, add half a tablespoon of Balsamico Bianco and mix with the electric whisk again for a few seconds at medium speed.
When the mayonnaise is ready, put 100 g of it in a bowl (the rest can be kept in the fridge and used within the next couple of days) and add the ricotta and grated pecorino cheese. Start mixing everything together with the electric whisk, add the wine, a little grated lemon zest, the chopped thyme, “mentuccia” and rosemary leaves and continue mixing. Lastly, add the other half a tablespoon of Balsamico Bianco and season again with salt and pepper to taste.
Now the roulades will be ready. Take them out of the oven, remove the string, slice them and serve them accompanied by the sauce.