Prepare the sauce first, as it is easy to bring back up to a warm heat if it cools down. In a saucepan, add the butter over medium heat. Once it melts and stops foaming, add the flour and whisk to make a basic roux to thicken the sauce. This will be quite thick. Cook for just a few minutes – the color should not be excessively brown, but blonde and the aroma will be slightly nutty, not as raw flour smells. Immediately add the stock and whisk to combine.

Once combined, add the salt, pepper, and half of the sage. Continue to whisk occasionally and bring the mixture to a boil. Once the mixture starts to boil, it will thicken. Let it boil lightly – you may need to turn the heat down, so it is lightly bubbling – for 30 seconds. Add the cream and whisk again to incorporate. Let the sauce simmer for at least 15 minutes, stirring occasionally so it doesn’t fuse to the bottom or sides of the saucepan. You can turn the heat off and warm the sauce up before serving.

Begin the chicken.

Just before the chicken is ready, stir in the cheese over medium-low heat. It will take about 4 minutes to incorporate the cheese into the sauce, stirring often. When the cheese has melted into the sauce and is not lumpy or stringy, the sauce is done. Taste for seasoning and add salt if needed.

Preheat the oven to 350°F

Take each chicken breast and, using a kitchen mallet, a rolling pin or a wine bottle, pound the breast out to about ¼” thickness. The more “rectangular” or “oval” you can make the breast the better. Season the chicken with half of the salt and pepper. Put a piece of prosciutto on each breast and on top of that add four sage leaves along the middle of the chicken breast. Then place equal parts of the grated cheese on each piece of chicken. Roll the chicken, tucking the ends in to form a “package,” and tie with kitchen twine. Depending on the size of the breasts, you will need between 3 and 5 ties. Season the outside of the chicken roulades with the rest of the salt and pepper.

Heat the oil in a large oven-proof nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Add the chicken roulades and cook, turning often to develop a caramelization on all sides. Once the chicken has a nice golden browning on all sides. Place the pan in the oven and bake for 10 minutes (chicken internal temperature should be 160°F – and it will carry over to 165°F after you remove it from the oven).

Remove the chicken and let rest for 5 minutes under a loose tent of aluminum foil. Slice into ¾-1” discs and serve on top of the sauce. Garnish with the fried sage leaves and serve with your favorite side (we love skin-on mashed red potatoes with garlic confit and glazed carrots).

These can be made in advance as well. In a small saucepan with about ½ inch of oil, heat on medium-high for a few minutes. Pick out some sage leaves you want to crisp (large nice-looking ones). Use a tester sage leaf in the oil – it should sizzle right away but not discolor. It will be in the oil for about 5-8 seconds.

Remove to paper towels to drain the oil. The sage leaves should be a darker green (not brown) and not limp and greasy. If you take them out and they are greasy limp, put them back in the oil for 2-4 seconds (they should bubble and crisp as soon as they hit the oil as the water in the leaves hasn’t completely been removed).