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Well, you've made it to the next to the last recipe in our Learn to Cook series. Way to go! Now you're going to make a complete meal that's worthy of entertaining. Nothing really hard ... just a lot going on. Take a deep breath ... ready? ... go!

The instructions in this recipe help you with timing - getting everything to come out at the right time. Take note of what I'm having you do and when, and think about how it's trying to show you how to be organized and methodical. That's the key to preparing a full meal.

This is a northern Italian dish with the great flavors of prosciutto, Asiago cheese, rosemary and sage. So we've got some more new ingredients for you here.

You're going to learn a few new techniques too: pounding chicken breasts, creating an "emulsified" sauce, and steaming vegetables. All of these are basic skills that are useful to have if you want to keep cooking.

For the "emulsified sauce", you'll be adding cold butter to a mixture of wine, broth and herbs, and stirring continuously to incorporate the butter into the liquid. The end result will be a slightly thickened sauce - not just melted butter. This technique is a good one to know. It's the same technique used to make classic butter sauces like "beurre blanc" and "beurre rouge". The key to success is to use cold butter, low heat, and never stop stirring.

To tenderize the chicken breasts and to flatten them a bit so that they cook quickly, you are going to "pound" them. You use a meat tenderizer (see link at left) or a mallet to gently hammer the breasts until they are about 1/2" thick. Don't pound too hard or you'll end up with chicken hamburger!

Check out the info about fresh sage. Fresh sage is one herb that I never worry about buying extra of. I just dry the leftover and store it in an air tight jar. It's so much better than the sage leaves you can buy in the spice aisle. Try it.

You're going to give the chicken a quick sauté and then arrange it on a foil-lined baking sheet and top each piece with some prosciutto and cheese, then pop it in the oven. We've got do-ahead tips too: you can get the chicken ready to go into the oven up to two hours ahead; then pop it in the oven when you're ready.

We've got lots of help in the recipe for making sure everything comes out on time. You'll make the pinto beans first. They are super easy and can be served at room temp, so they can just sit while you prepare the rest of the dinner.

While the chicken is cooking, you'll steam the broccolini. Use broccoli instead if you want; the technique is the same. Steaming vegetables is a great way to prepare a healthful and quick side dish. Here you don't need any butter or oil on the vegetable because the sauce from the chicken will spill over to it.

When everything's done, you're going to arrange it nicely on the plate and serve it. Bon Appétit!

At-Home Safe Food Handling *

* with permission from Kansas State University Research & Extension