Parmesan Crusted Chicken Breast

I'm not a fan of chicken and it goes back to my days in a fast food chicken chain.  Unfortunately the fam loves the stuff and I have to find ways to disguise it and make it tasty where I can enjoy it too.  Adding in the words of Mario Batali, the "undisputed king of cheese" good old Parmesan makes chicken quite tasty and enjoyable for beef eaters like me.

This recipe is a combo of several others I've read or tried.  Its pretty easy to prepare, its the prep that is time consuming.  Add in corn and mashed 'taters and you have a right tasty comfort food dinner on the table pretty quickly.  

Parmesan Crusted Chicken

• 6 boneless chicken breasts - approx 1 1/2 lbs
  
• salt
  
• pepper
  
• 3/4 c flour
  
• 1 T onion powder
  
• 1 egg
  
• 1 T milk
  
• 3/4  c grated fresh Parmesan
  
• 1/4 c loose packed fresh basil leaves. (or 2 T dry basil)
  
• 1/2 c bread crumbs
  
• 1/2 t garlic powder
  
• 2 T olive oil
  
• 1 T butter divided.
  

Preheat oven to 325F

Pat chicken dry.  Season with salt and pepper.  Set aside.

Gather 3 shallow bowls large enough to fit one chicken breast.

In bowl #1 combine flour and onion powder.

In bowl #2 add egg and milk, beat well.

In food processor add fresh Parmesan and pulse until coarse grated.  Add bread crumbs, tear up basil leaves and add to processor container.  Pulse until basil is finely chopped and evenly distributed in the cheese and bread crumbs.  Pour Cheese mixture into bowl #3.

Take a seasoned chicken breast.  Dip in Bowl #1 (flour mixture).  Remove and dip into bowl #2 (Milk and egg).  Remove and set into the cheese mixture bowl.  Lightly press into cheese, turn the breast over and repeat so both sides are evenly covered with the cheese mixture.  Put aside on clean board to rest while breading the remaining chicken breasts.

In large nonstick frying pan heat over medium heat.   Add olive oil, when it begins to shimmer add  1T butter and 3 chicken breasts.  Cook about 5 minutes until bottom is golden brown, carefully flip and cook remaining side until golden brown about 3-5 minutes.  Remove breasts from pan and add to baking sheet lined with silpat liner.  Add remaining 1 T butter repeat searing process with remaining breasts.

Place baking pan in oven and roast for 20 minutes.  NOTE: time and temp is for convection oven, if using regular oven increase heat to 350F and time to 25-30 minutes.  Test for doneness by sticking a knife into thickest piece - if juices run clear its done, if not bake 5 minutes longer.

The resting period of a few minutes from the time you bread the breast until you sear it is really important.  That rest allows the egg in the crust to set up and really hold it tight to the chicken breast instead of falling off into your frying pan.  

 

A silpat sheet is a must with this one.  As there is so much cheese in the crust it sticks too easily to the pan and you wind up leaving most of the cheesy goodness behind.

If you have the convection option use the option as it really keeps a nice even heat on the chicken ensuring its cooked through and not "hot spots" scorching the crust.

If you can use fresh basil in this one do so.  There is a certain "green" taste in the fresh that you just don't get out of the dried.

Orange Chocolate Palmiers

Today is "Bloggers Picnic V (V for vendetta)". It is done potluck style. Anyone who is a fan of blogs, writes a blog, reads a blog, comments or torments on a blog is welcome to attend. Invite details on Metblogs.

My contribution to the days noshing and festivities will include these tasty but stupid easy cookies. I'm not quite sure where I heard that orange and chocolate are a good flavor combination but they do pair well. These cookies are something I just thought up one day and ran with it.

Orange Chocolate Palmiers

• 1 sheet frozen puff pastry - thawed


• 2 T raw or tourbinado sugar, divided


• zest of one medium orange


• 1 oz bitter sweet chocolate

Lay down a sheet of plastic wrap larger than the puff pastry sheet. Sprinkle 1 T of the raw sugar on the plastic wrap approximately the size of the pastry sheet. Unfold pastry on top of the sugar. The unfolded pastry should have the creases visible and running horizontal on the wrap.

Sprinkle the remaining 1 T raw sugar over the pastry sheet. Zest the orange with a microplane over the puff pastry. Using microplane grate the chocolate over the pastry. Lightly tap the sugar, zest and chocolate onto the puff pastry.

With one long edge of the puff pastry carefully fold the edge to the nearest crease. Fold again to the half way point on the pastry. Repeat with the other edge of the dough. Fold the dough again in half. Wrap dough in the plastic wrap and chill 15-minutes. Very important that you chill the dough or it will not cut well nor puff correctly in the oven.

Preheat the oven to 400. Line baking sheet with silpat or parchment paper. Remove the dough from fridge and immediately unwrap. Cut the dough in half. Take the half and cut in the middle (will yield 2, one quarter rolls). Cut the one quarter roll into 3 pieces (about 1/4 think). Lay each cookie on the sheet about 2 inches apart. Repeat until all of dough is cut and lined up on baking sheet.

Bake 12-14 minutes until golden brown. Cool 5 minutes before moving to wire rack.

Note the original crease lines as they are important guides for the folding when it is time to start rolling the palmiers.

Microplanes are the greatest gift to the kitchen, makes it so easy to finely grate things like chocolate and get even distribution at the same time. After the final fold is done you have a log that needs to be rolled in the plastic wrap so it will hold its shape will chilling.
A sharp serrated knife is the best tool for cutting through the chilled dough. It doesn't cut and drag through the dough causing it to lose its shape like a regular knife will.
Silpat sheets...the single greatest invention for anyone who lies to bake. Cookies like this that have a lot of raw sugar would bake and burn onto a regular cookie sheet, here they just bake away and glide right off the sheet. Clean up is easy...damp cloth and it is done.