Italian Fried Chicken Breast

So I’m sitting at work the other day when I got a text from Mrs. CB mentioning something about dinner.  We figured that it was a night to cook because I was getting off at 3 p.m.  She had a couple of ideas.  But I had an idea so I quick sent her a text with the barebones of the recipe in it.  And frankly it sounded good. (That should give you an idea that there’s some downtime in selling cars).

Let’s see, I texted her the following:  “…take out one of the bigger chicken breasts.  I’ll pound it, bread it, panfry, melt some cheese on top & serve it on top of sketti or grits with some sketti sauce.”

I’m starting to look forward to being just a bit creative for a change.  Doing something with just a bit of panache.  I got home and my phone goes off about 2 minutes later.  It’s 5:45.  (I didn’t get off until 5 because of a customer).  It’s another customer.  She’s telling me that they’re on their way to the dealership to buy the car I showed them the day before.  OK.  It’s a 40 minute drive but I’m on my way.  Long story short, the dinner didn’t get made, sold a car and got home at 10.  Damn.

So, the good news is that the next day is my day off.  I can cook up a storm. And I did.  It was the recipe that I imagined the day before.  It felt great!  I don’t get enough chances to do that lately—especially coming up with a new recipe.

Mrs. CB likes “sketti” and that’s what this is but with just a little twist.  I call it Italian Fried Chicken Breast.  And I went in just a little different direction for the sauce.  It’s “semi-homemade”. So here’s what I did:

(print version at bottom of post)

Italian Fried Chicken Breast

Ingredients
• 1 boneless skinless chicken breast
• ¾ cup flour
• ¼ cup or so crumbled up potato chips (Pringles or Stax)
• 1 tbsp Italian Seasoning or Oregano
• ½ tbsp granulated garlic
• ½ tbsp salt
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp milk
• 1 cup (appx) Canola oil
• 8 oz. spaghetti
• 1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 6 oz can tomato paste
• ½ cup chicken broth
• 1 jalapeno chopped
• ¾ cup bell pepper chopped (red, orange, yellow)
• 2/3 cup chopped onion
• Crushed red chili flakes
• Salt
• Cumin
• Garlic
• ½ cup (appx) shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

• Get out a gallon freezer bag and your meat mallet or a heavy sauce pan.  Get out 2 cutting boards and chef’s knife.
• Get out your pasta pot and a large sauté pan.  Get out a flat bowl or plastic dish and a shallow bowl or dish.
• Put the chicken breast in the gallon bag and seal it.  Pound it with the flat side of the mallet so that it ends up a consistent thickness of about ½ inch or a bit less.
• Remove from the bag then put it down on a cutting board and cut it into 4-6 equal sized pieces and put on a dish/platter with a paper towel on the bottom.
• Wash the cutting board and chef’s knife with soap and water.
• With the 2nd cutting board, chop the jalapeno, bell pepper and onion.   Put in a bowl.
• Crumble up the potato chips to a fine texture. Put them on the flat bowl/dish along with the flour, Italian seasoning, garlic and salt and mix well with a fork. Put the egg and the milk in the other dish and mix well with a fork.
• Put the sauté pan on the stove set to medium.  Add the oil.  (About ¼” maximum).
• When oil is to temperature, double dredge 2-3 pieces of the chicken breast—coat both sides with the flour, dredge both sides through the milk/egg and then dredge through the flour mix again coating both sides well.
• Turn oven to warm.
• Gently lay each of the 3 pieces of chicken in the oil.  Cook 3-4 minutes per side until golden.  Remove from oil and put on plate with a paper towel on it and slide into the oven to keep warm.
• Dredge and fry the rest of the chicken.  Put in oven to stay warm.
• Put water in the pasta pot and put on stove on high.
• Drain about ¾ or so of the oil from the sauté pan.  Put it back on the burner on medium to medium high.  Add the bell pepper, jalapeno and onion to the pan and sauté for about 4 minutes until it starts to soften.  Add some salt and garlic mixing everything well.
• Add the diced tomatoes and tomato paste.  Turn heat down a notch.  Add the chicken broth.  Stir well and add the salt, cumin, garlic and some red chili flakes.  Taste!  Add more if needed.
• Turn heat down another notch or so—just so it simmers and starts to thicken.
• Add pasta to the pasta pot and cover.
• Remove chicken from warmed oven, sprinkle with the mozzarella and put back in the oven.
• Taste sauce again.  If it’s too acidic add about a tablespoon of sugar or honey.  It’ll smooth it out.  Adjust seasoning if needed.
• Drain pasta and build plates.
• Small mound of pasta, a ladle of sauce and a couple pieces of the chicken leaning on it.
• Serve with salad ands garlic bread or toast.

(print version at bottom of post)

Now that seems a bit long and involved but it goes quickly.  Start to finish about 30 minutes or so.  And this is tasty.  The chicken will be crispy and will have its own flavor.  The sauce is “semi-homemade” and tasty—not too tomatoey and not too sweet.

It’s perfect for when you want a home cooked meal but don’t want to go full out with meat sauce or meatballs.  Plus, it’s inexpensive.

The Cheap Bastid Test:  The chicken breast was $1.99/lb and it was right at a pound—call it $2.  The can of diced tomatoes was $1 and the can of tomato paste was $.39.  I used about $1 worth of fresh veggies and call it $.50 for the oil and seasonings with another $.50 for the mozzarella.  Total for this tasty Italian meal was $4.40.  That’s about as reasonable as it gets!  It fed us dinner and enough for lunch for 2 as well.  So that comes to $1.10 a serving and it would be $12-$14 at a restaurant—each.

That’s the Cheap Bastid Test:  Eat Good. Eat Cheap. Be Grateful!