Saturday, March 12, 2011

Chicken schnitzel - Week night dinner

Wednesday after a long day at work I came home to find I was on my own for dinner. There have been times that this means I sit down with a large bowl of popcorn and call that dinner or cook something that no one else in my family will eat like liver or curried eggplant. But this night I was feeling like schnitzel this along with it's very close cousin veal milanese, often my choice on a menu. You could of course make this with veal or pork, chicken breast is what I had so chicken it would be.


This is a quick easy way to cook boneless skinless chicken breasts that manages to keep them from drying out.

First thing I did was throw a potato in the microwave for 2 minutes and then into a 400 oven, so that by the time my chicken was cooked so was the potato.



For one

Boneless skinless chicken breast
1 egg beaten with 2 tablespoons of milk
1/2 cup of breadcrumbs mixed with 2 tablespoons of grated parmasan
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 teaspoon of butter.

Put the chicken breast between two layers of plastic wrap or parchment paper and bash it out with a rolling pin.  This makes the chicken breast thin and tender and helps with all those frustrations left over from work.


I bought an organic free range chicken breast and it had more colour and flavour than the regular, certainly worth the little extra.

Put the egg mixture in one shallow bowl and the breadcrumb mixture in another.


Dip the chicken in the egg and then the breadcrumbs making sure it is completely coated.

Coated chicken ready to cook
In a frying pan heat up the oil and butter until the butter is just foaming, then add the chicken, cook for about 2 or 3 minutes on one side.

Cooked on one side
Turn over and cook for a further 2 or 3 minutes.  Both sides should be crispy golden and the chicken cooked through this does not take long especially if you have bashed it out until it is very thin.

Cooked chicken
Serve with a slice of lemon to squeeze over, a baked potato and green vegetable dinner for one (or 2) in less than 30 minutes.  I had some very fresh rapini from the red apple on Hastings, the bitterness of the greens went very well with the lemony crisp chicken.

Tasty healthy quick dinner for one


2 comments:

  1. Yum. I crave snitzel, and the best I've had locally was at the Bella Vita in Maple Ridge.
    When I make this, I always use panko crumbs, for extra crispness. Also, when I have the time I let the breaded chicken (or pork) sit in the fridge for about half an hour. It seems to improve the crispyness. Thanks for inspiring me to make this again.

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  2. Thanks for the tips, I will have to try out Bella Vita I am always up for a good schnitzel.

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