Fancy comfort food.
This classic Italian dish turns succulent fried breadcrumb chicken into a sophisticated date night option.
Ingredients (for 2 people)
2 chicken breasts
1 large egg
100g (roughly) breadcrumbs
1 tbsp of each spice – Cumin, Paprika, Chilli flakes
200g tomato passata or blended chopped tomatoes
1 fresh mozzarella cheese (125g net drain weight)
Salad leaves
1/2 red onion
Handful of cherry tomatoes
Thumb sized Parmesan cheese block
Splash of balsamic vinegar
Optional potatoes
6-10 x baby potatoes (depends how hungry you are!)
1 x handful of mint leaves
Basic Summary
- Flatten the chicken breast
- Lightly beat the egg in a bowl
- Add breadcrumbs and spices in a separate bowl and mix well
- Dip the chicken breasts in egg, then transfer to breadcrumbs until fully coated
- Shallow fry the chicken breasts until golden, then place in the oven to cook through
- Heat through tomato passata in a pan
- Chop red onion, cherry tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and Parmesan
- Add salad leaves, red onion, cherry tomatoes and Parmesan to a salad bowl and season
- Add tomato passata and mozzarella cheese to the top of the chicken and place under the grill until cheese is melted
- Toss the salad with a splash of balsamic vinegar and olive oil
- Serve chicken hot from the oven with salad
Prep.
TIP: Read through the full recipe before starting.
Flatten the chicken breast until about 2cm in thickness.
TIP: Lay the chicken on a chopping board with a sheet of baking paper covering the top and bottom of both chicken breasts. Whack the chicken with a rolling pin or any non-sharp heavy object until at the desired thickness. I like to use the pestle from my pestle and mortar.
Lightly beat the egg in a bowl.
Add the breadcrumbs and spices to plate and mix.
Half the cherry tomatoes.
Finely slice the red onion, and mint leaves if having potatoes.
Finely cut the Parmesan cheese into wafer thin slices.
TIP: You can use a peeler to cut the Parmesan extra thin.
Drain and slice the fresh mozzarella into 1cm chunks in order to melt evenly.
TIP: You could do all salad preparation whilst chicken is cooking in the oven for 10-15 minutes if you wanted to speed everything up.
If creating your own tomato passata, blend chopped tomatoes and season to taste.
Make.
{Preheated oven at 200°C}
If having potatoes, start to boil them first. They should take 20 minutes, but the rest won’t take as long and they can keep warm steaming for a while.
Submerge one chicken breast in the beaten egg until fully coated, then lift to let the excess egg drip off.
Place flat down into the breadcrumbs and press down before flipping over to the coat the other side.
TIP: Keeping one hand for dry ingredients and the other for touching wet, helps make this less messy.
Repeat this process with each chicken breast.
When all chicken is ready, heat some oil in a large frying pan on a medium to high heat and place the chicken in the pan to brown the breadcrumbs.
Carefully turn the chicken until nice and brown on both sides, then transfer to the oven to cook through. Depending on how long you have fried the chicken in the pan and how thick each piece is you can cook for between 10-15 minutes.
TIP: Adding the chicken to a a raised grill surface rather than a flat oven tray will keep the breadcrumbs from getting soggy on the bottom.
Whilst the chicken is in the oven, add the passata to a pan to heat through. Keep on a low heat until ready to use.
If having potatoes, by now they should be full cooked, so drain and leave to steam in the pan with the lid on.
Whilst steaming, add the mint, a drizzle of olive oil and some salt and pepper.
Add the salad leaves, red onion, cherry tomatoes, and Parmesan cheese to a large mixing bowl and season with salt and pepper. Leaving a small bit of Parmesan for a garnish.
Once the chicken has had enough time to cook through in the oven, take it out the oven and change the oven setting to the grill.
Spoon the tomato passata on to the top of each chicken breast and then add the fresh mozzarella chunks on top.
Place under the grill for 2-5 minutes, or until the cheese has melted.
Whilst in the oven add a splash of balsamic vinegar and olive oil to the salad and toss.
Serve with the extra shavings of Parmesan cheese on top.
Enjoy.
Prep. Make. Enjoy. 