Pan Fried Chicken Cutlets

In college I lived with three lovely women for my junior and senior years. While I'd like to say that I was the chef of the house during those two years, the fact of the matter is that my roommate Kara cooked far more often and far more fancy dishes during that time period than I did. And the rest of our house loved her for it! Whether it was smoked baby back ribs, fish, bourbon chocolate pecan pie or cake, if Kara was in the kitchen, we, as her roommates, were bound to benefit from her efforts.

Six years later Kara is still an incredible cook, and fortunately for me she recently moved to Dallas from Philadelphia. This past February, Kara decided she wanted to cook me dinner for my birthday and I was certainly happy to give over the reigns of my kitchen for a night to allow her to cook for me once again. For my birthday dinner Kara made these pan fried chicken cutlets and I quickly asked her to send me her recipe.

As a Texan, I am no stranger to fried chicken. In fact it's one of my major vices when it comes to trying to eat healthy. Another reason I love making this dish is because I get to use the iron skillet I inherited from my great-grandfather. Of all the items I could cook in his pan, I think he would be most pleased with my frying chicken and thinking of our fun times together as a child. While I certainly don't advocate cooking fried food for dinner weekly, this meal is a great occasional treat when you just want to indulge. Enjoy.

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Pan Fried Chicken Cutlets


Ingredients
1/2 bag of crostini or toasted baguette or 1 baguette toasted
1/4 cup pine nuts
zest of one lemon
1/4 cup packed parsley, chopped
1/2 cup shredded parmesan
1 cup flour
2 eggs, beaten
6 chicken cutlets*
canola oil

*Many butchers will cut your chicken breasts into cutlets for you. If this is not an option you can pound the chicken until it's thickness is reduced in half and cut into two cutlets

Instructions
Put the crostini or toasted baguette into your food processor and pulse until chopped into crumbs.

Add in the pine nuts and pulse a few more times to chop up the nuts.

Add the chopped parsley

The lemon zest

And the parmesan to the food processor.

Pulse until all ingredients are thoroughly incorporated into the bread crumb mixture. Pour into a pie plate or other shallow dish.

Beat the two eggs into another similar dish and set to the right of the bread crumb mixture. In another dish put the flour and set to the right of the egg. Your set up should look like this.

In an iron skillet, pour in about a half inch of oil and heat over medium high heat. If you don't have a cast iron skillet, a heavy bottomed skillet will work as well.

Once the oil is hot but not smoking, bread the chicken in the following manner. Place the cutlet in the flour and coat.

Then dip in the egg and coat on both sides.

Finally, place in the bread crumb mixture and coat on both sides.

Gently place in the hot oil, being careful not to splash any on yourself.

Cook until the breading on the bottom is golden brown, about 3-5 minutes.

Flip and cook the other side until golden brown, about 3-5 more minutes. Carefully remove from the oil and place on a paper towel lined plate.

Repeat the process with the remaining chicken cutlets. Serve with vegetables and enjoy.