Crunchy Garlic Chicken

As promised, I found this dinner on my camera. I never would have remembered we had this unless I looked through my photos! As my memory serves, this dinner was good, but pretty standard. Basically, a healthy version of fried chicken strips. My kiddos loved it, and the roasted spaghetti squash was a fun side to go with it. I should have made some sort of dipping sauce to go with it, but I think my little ones just used ketchup. Overall, I will probably make this recipe again when I need a go-to for healthy, crispy chicken strips.

Crunchy Garlic Chicken
From: Jaime Oliver via jaimeoliver.com

Ingredients:
1 clove of garlic
1 lemon
6 saltine crackers
2 tablespoons butter
4 sprigs of fresh Italian parsley
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 heaped tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 large egg, preferably free-range or organic
2 skinless chicken breast fillets, preferably free-range or organic
olive oil

Directions:
To prepare your chicken:
Peel the garlic and zest the lemon. Put your crackers into a food processor with the butter, garlic, parsley sprigs, lemon zest and a pinch of salt and pepper. Whiz until the mixture is very fine, then pour these crumbs on to a plate. Sprinkle the flour on to a second plate. Crack the egg into a small bowl and beat with a fork. Lightly score the underside of the chicken breasts. Put a square of plastic wrap over each one and bash a few times with the bottom of a pan until the breasts flatten out a bit. Dip the chicken into the flour until both sides are completely coated, then dip into the egg and finally into the flavored crumbs. Push the crumbs on to the chicken breasts so they stick – you want the meat to be totally coated.

To cook your chicken:
You can either bake or fry the chicken. If baking, preheat your oven to its highest temperature (475˚), place your chicken on a sheet pan and cook for 15 minutes. If frying, put a frying pan on a medium heat, add a few good lugs of olive oil and cook the chicken breasts for 4 to 5 minutes on each side, until cooked through, golden and crisp.

To serve your chicken:
Either serve the chicken breasts whole, or cut them into strips and pile them on a plate. Beautiful and simple served with a lemon wedge for squeezing over, and a tiny sprinkling of salt. Great with a lovely fresh salad or simply dressed veggies.



The Result:
I would categorize this as solid, versatile recipe. We chose to bake instead of fry, but the directions have instructions for both methods. This is a good recipe to make if you are in the market for chicken strips. One note: I did have to double (or maybe even triple) the recipe ingredients to accommodate my hungry bunch and have enough leftovers for lunches the next day. This recipe only gives you enough to yield 2 servings. We gave it a thumbs up!