Parmesan Chicken (with salad) – Ina Garten

Ina Garten's Chicken on Salad

Oh do I have a tasty treat for you today! If you haven’t made Ina Garten’s (aka, Barefoot Contessa) Parmesan Chicken I encourage you do so… you will be oh so thrilled. The chicken coated in parmesan has SUCH fabulous flavor. I like how she puts the salad on top, I usually put the chicken on top of the salad… the light and fresh tasting lemon vinaigrette compliments this nicely. Tasty without being overpowering!

Click HERE to print this recipe!

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1/3 cup unbleached flour

kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

1 egg

1/2 tablespoon water

1/2 cup seasoned dry bread crumbs

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra for serving

Unsalted butter

Good olive oil

Salad greens for 2, washed and spun dry

1 recipe Lemon Vinaigrette, recipe follows

Directions

Pound the chicken breasts until they are 1/4-inch thick. You can use either a meat mallet or a rolling pin.

Combine the flour, salt, and pepper on a dinner plate. On a second plate, beat the egg with 1 tablespoon of water. On a third plate, combine the bread crumbs and grated Parmesan. Coat the chicken breasts on both sides with the flour mixture, then dip both sides into the egg mixture and dredge both sides in the bread-crumb mixture, pressing lightly.

Heat 1/2 tablespoon of butter and 1/2 tablespoon of canola oil in a large non-stick sauté pan and cook 2 or 3 chicken breasts on medium-low heat for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, until cooked through. Add more butter and oil and cook the rest of the chicken breasts. Toss the salad greens with lemon vinaigrette. Place a mound of salad on each hot chicken breast. Serve with extra grated Parmesan.

Lemon Vinaigrette:

1/8 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (1 lemons)

1/4 cup good olive oil

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Yield: 2 servings

Say bye bye to Panera’s original chicken noodle…

Say bye bye to Panera’s original chicken noodle soup…

It’s a rainy day… I’ve had a cold… what’s better than some chicken noodle soup to make you feel better? Last week my husband and I were at Panera. I always order a cup of chicken noodle soup with a whole wheat baguette. We place our order and when it comes to the table there is this suspicious small carry out container… ooooh a surprise, how nice! Open it up… hmmm, more chicken noodle soup, no wait, just broth, weird. Hmmm, maybe they thought mine was too thick so they gave me extra broth to add? I took a bite of the original… oh la la, too good, those nice homemade noodles that melt in your mouth, the bite size carrots, the perfectly sized, not too big, not too small pieces of clean white chicken… heaven! Then I checked into the small container… EYEEEEWWW, what? It’s different… 99% broth, three 1″  “noodles” (if you can call them that), 1 sliver of celery and one piece of carrot the size of a pencil eraser and the most awful broth I have ever tasted in my life. Cheap. It. Tasted. CHEAP. Now keep in mind, this is my opinion (and I am sticking with it!). I had a sinking feeling this was because Panera was going to save some money and pawn this soup off as, well, soup instead of bad broth, and I was right. It was a corporate decision. The employees are not happy about it, they agree that it tastes awful. I feel for them, they’re going to hear everyone and their brother’s mother complain about it. It’s still available until 1/12/11 and then it’s gone for good. Who else has good chicken noodle soup that you know of? LET ME KNOW, this is serious! I’ve downed a good bit of it this week (or so it feels) and I’m starting to feel better now!

 
The WordPress topic of the day is DO YOU PREFER TO TALK or TEXT? I prefer different types of communication depending upon the circumstance. I would like to say that I don’t think ANYONE should text and drive, yet if I’m out and about I see it more than I can believe. I can’t imagine what families go through losing someone because someone driving couldn’t wait until they got where they were going before responding to ‘wassup?’. omg. No one in the world is so important to put anyones life in jeopardy over a phone call, text message, email or anything else. Ok, I’ll jump off my soap box now, those are just my feelings. I prefer to talk to people if I know that I’m not interrupting anything and that they are available. I prefer to text if I’m in a location where talking is difficult (on the runway) but you need to get a message (we landed, please come get us!) to someone without disrupting those around you, and I prefer to email when there are details that need to be passed along so that a) the story doesn’t get out of whack, b) there are lots of details for someone to write down (a recipe) or I want documentation that I did have contact with a certain person. How do you prefer to communicate? Until tomorrow…