Cooking for Pleasure: Breaded sauteed chicken breasts

Chicken with sauteed mushrooms. (Photo by Patty Schied)

By Patty Schied

Lest my readers think that I flawlessly produce this column every two weeks, let me tell you that it is not so.  

Along with this recipe, I decided to make fresh linguine to serve with it. I made the mistake of mixing the pasta dough in my food processor, which promptly died and had to be tossed — the machine, not the dough. 

Whatever I did, I could not remove the blade from the machine and had to painstakingly scrape whatever dough I could off of it to turn it into actual linguine. Well, my Cuisinart lasted nine years and considering I used it every day, it did a great job. I immediately ordered a new one, of course.

It is also a good thing that no one sees how my kitchen looks like a tornado hit it each time I prepare food for the column. I can never understand how cooks like Ina Garten film in a spotless kitchen without even an apron.  

Well, this was going to be an easy meal. It actually isn’t very difficult. Just purchase a couple of chicken breasts, or bone them from a whole chicken. 

With a very sharp knife, carefully slice them horizontally, then pound them until they are thin. You can tell if your knife is sharp enough by cutting a small tomato with it. If it goes through like butter, it’s sharp. If the tomato squishes, it isn’t.  

When cutting the chicken into thin filets, place your left palm onto the chicken and, with your right hand, carefully slice in half. Using both hands steadies the chicken and makes it easier to slice.

The breast meat from one whole chicken will serve four people.  

Chicken fillet. (Photo by Patty Schied)

Ingredients:

• 2 whole chicken breast fillets, sliced in half horizontally

• 1½ cups fine dried breadcrumbs

• ¼ cup finely chopped parsley

• ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

• 2 eggs beaten with 1 tablespoon of water

• 1 cup all-purpose flour

• Salt and pepper

• Oil for frying 

Sauteing the chicken. (Photo by Patty Schied)

Directions:

Place horizontally sliced chicken breast between two sheets of plastic wrap or wax paper. With a rolling pin or similar utensil, pound the meat to a ¼ inch thickness. Remove from wrap and set aside. Repeat with the remaining pieces of chicken.

Have three shallow bowls ready. Place flour in one bowl, egg mixture in another, then the breadcrumbs mixed with parsley and Parmesan cheese in the third bowl.

Salt and pepper each chicken filet and dip into flour, then the egg mixture and finally the breadcrumbs, pressing the chicken into the crumbs so that they are completely covered. Set aside, preferably on a rack.

In a large fry pan, heat about ¼ cup of olive oil or your favorite vegetable oil. When the oil sizzles, place two breaded filets in the frying pan and sauté until golden on each side. 

Remove from heat and place onto a platter and repeat with the remaining two breaded filets.  

I served this topped with sauteed mushrooms, but they are just fine without them.

If serving pasta with the chicken, have your pasta water boiling, then add your favorite pasta such as fettuccine, linguine or spaghetti and cook until al dente (not soft but not so hard it hurts your teeth). 

Toss with olive oil, fresh parsley and about one tablespoon of freshly grated or chopped garlic. 

The chicken served with salad and linguine. (Photo by Patty Schied)

A nice green salad goes well with this meal too.  And if you are the cook, pour yourself a glass of wine.

Note: This can easily be turned into chicken parmesan. Heat the oven to 400 degrees and top each sauteed filet with a couple of tablespoons of marinara sauce and then with grated cheese. Bake until the cheese melts.

• Patty Schied is a longtime Juneau resident who studied at the Cordon Bleu in London and has written a cookbook. Cooking for Pleasure appears every other week in the Juneau Independent's features. She welcomes questions about her column at patschied@yahoo.com.