What do you do when you've got half a dozen stale mini-croissants, a couple massive chicken breasts and some left-over fresh rosemary? This!
Rosemary Croissant Chicken Breasts
2 'ample' chicken breasts
6 stale mini-croissants (or 3 large ones)
5-6 stems of fresh rosemary
1/4-1/2 tsp white pepper
1/8-1/4 tsp salt
3 eggs
juice from 1/2 lime
as much walnut oil as lime juice
cooking oil (I use sunflower seed)
Using a handy-dandy mortar and pestle (though if you're lazy, you can use a food processor), crush and grind up the stale croissants into crumbs. Chop the rosemary as fine as possible - we're talking FINE. Combine the crumbs, rosemary, pepper and salt in a shallow dish (I used a small pyrex 6" dish). Break the eggs into another similar dish, beat lightly (until uniformly yellow), and add the lime juice and walnut oil. (Careful readers will note that this combination is the same as the dressing I use for my carrot salad - in fact, I just used what was leftover in the fridge!) Make sure it's mixed well. Set out a nice big plate by the dishes, and put your frying pan on medium-high with a dash of cooking oil.
Take the breasts and cut them up into decent-sized portions (no bigger than your palm). If they are very thick, smack 'em. By that, I mean pound them to about 1/2 inch in thickness. Some people use plastic wrap or bags and a meat pounder - I use the heel of my hand and just go to town. Whatever works. Once portioned, dry them off with paper towel (the breading sticks better when dry). Dip the chicken first into the egg mixture, then the breading, then put on the plate. Repeat with all your pieces. Once the pan's nice and hot, place your chicken in the pan. Right away, give the pan a shake to make sure the chicken isn't sticking, and then let it stick without bothering it. About 5-8 min. later (or when the cooked side is a nice golden-brown), flip the chicken pieces over and fry the other side. Once cooked, remove to another plate (do NOT reuse uncooked chicken plates - bad idea) and let cool. If you have some pieces that are still quite thick and you're worried about undercooking, just flip them every few minutes to keep from burning and press down with a nice wooden spatula to try and flatten them more.
Serve with salad, or veggies, or even a light pesto pasta salad'd be nice.
(Roger approves of this recipe, and has already informed me that he will be eating all the chicken without any help from me.)
Showing posts with label walnut oil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label walnut oil. Show all posts
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Friday, June 17, 2011
What's with all the carrots?
I've fallen into bad habits. I had four very stout carrots sitting in the fridge from last weekend's grocery run, and hadn't done a thing with them. So tonight, searching for something light and vegetably to eat, I decided to tackle one of Jamie Oliver's salad recipes.
Now, anyone who knows me is aware of my distaste for most salads - especially when lettuce or greens are involved. But in Mr. Oliver's lovely book was a recipe for a carrot salad that looked quite tasty. But here's where my bad habits come in. I didn't have mandarin oranges. That's it - that's the extent of my sin. So I improvised.
May I present to you: Heather's carrot salad.
It consists of grated carrot, fresh chopped cilantro, prunes, sesame seeds and dressed with an emulsion of lime juice and walnut oil. Walnut oil is so my flavour of the month.
It turned out quite nicely. Quite nicely indeed. It's hard to stick to recipes when experiments turn out like this.
(ADDED)
My husband is still raving about it today, and he insisted I write the full recipe down somewhere so he can replicate it. Here we go:
salad:
4 large carrots, peeled
handful of fresh cilantro leaves
3 prunes
handful of sesame seeds
dressing:
1 lime, juiced
twice as much Walnut Oil
Grate the carrots into a big bowl. I don't like cilantro stems, so I pull the leaves off first, then chop them up. Throw them in the bowl too. Halve the prunes lengthwise then slice them finely into strips (half a cm wide). I find that throwing the prune bits in little by little and tossing along the way is best, so that they don't stick to each other. Toss in the sesame seeds. Mix the whole thing up with your hands. To make the dressing, combine the juice and oil in a little jar or plastic container and shake vigourously. Once well mixed, drizze two or three tablespoonsworth over the salad. Toss to coat. And you're done!
Now, anyone who knows me is aware of my distaste for most salads - especially when lettuce or greens are involved. But in Mr. Oliver's lovely book was a recipe for a carrot salad that looked quite tasty. But here's where my bad habits come in. I didn't have mandarin oranges. That's it - that's the extent of my sin. So I improvised.
May I present to you: Heather's carrot salad.
It consists of grated carrot, fresh chopped cilantro, prunes, sesame seeds and dressed with an emulsion of lime juice and walnut oil. Walnut oil is so my flavour of the month.
It turned out quite nicely. Quite nicely indeed. It's hard to stick to recipes when experiments turn out like this.
(ADDED)
My husband is still raving about it today, and he insisted I write the full recipe down somewhere so he can replicate it. Here we go:
salad:
4 large carrots, peeled
handful of fresh cilantro leaves
3 prunes
handful of sesame seeds
dressing:
1 lime, juiced
twice as much Walnut Oil
Grate the carrots into a big bowl. I don't like cilantro stems, so I pull the leaves off first, then chop them up. Throw them in the bowl too. Halve the prunes lengthwise then slice them finely into strips (half a cm wide). I find that throwing the prune bits in little by little and tossing along the way is best, so that they don't stick to each other. Toss in the sesame seeds. Mix the whole thing up with your hands. To make the dressing, combine the juice and oil in a little jar or plastic container and shake vigourously. Once well mixed, drizze two or three tablespoonsworth over the salad. Toss to coat. And you're done!
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