Wednesday, January 27, 2010

FNCCC - Ina Garten


I have been MIA for almost two weeks due to a computer with the Swine Flu (or some other kind of virus) that has been out of commission for over a week and a camera that finally decided to die. Who knows when the computer will be back. My new camera arrives on Thursday! There's no picture of my recipe because at that point the camera was only taking wavy purple pictures. I'll be back into the swing of things soon, I hope.

This week's Food Network chef is Ina Garten. She has a neat bio and she's fun to watch because she is so at home in the kitchen. I have heard that her cookbooks are fabulous. I can't wait to check them out.

I chose her Parmesan Chicken. It was just OK directly out of the pan, but my flattened chicken breasts took up the entire skillet so I had to do them in 4 batches. By the time we ate, the ones that were cooked first were soggy. I admit that I am not a pan fry kind of girl. I thought these were too greasy. The coating could have used a little something extra. The leftovers...even worse. I had to throw them away; something I never do. This recipe has not been added to my recipe box. You win some, you loose some but I won't give up on you Ina!

Parmesan Chicken
2002, Barefoot Contessa Family Style, All Rights Reserved

Ingredients
4 to 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I used four that, when flattened, were as big as dinner plates)
1 cup all-purpose flour (too much, could have used half that)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 extra-large eggs
1 tablespoon water
1 1/4 cups seasoned dry bread crumbs
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra for serving
Unsalted butter
Good olive oil
Salad greens for 6, washed and spun dry (I completely forgot about this and the dressing by the time the dinner made it to the table, so I can not comment on this)
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. (I loved doing this! I put them inside an empty cereal bag to do it without any mess)
Combine the flour, salt, and pepper on a dinner plate. On a second plate, beat the eggs with 1 tablespoon of water. On a third plate, combine the bread crumbs and 1/2 cup 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 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large saute 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:
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
1/2 cup good olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper.
Yield: 6 servings


So what did you cook?? I'm excited to try some of your recommendations because mine didn't pan out. Link your recipe to MckLinky below.



6 comments:

  1. Hope your camera and computer begin functioning as they should! we had a delicious recipe this week --- it will show up again :)

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  2. That's too bad this recipe was a flop! I like certain things pan fried, but generally breaded chicken falls into the "blech" category for me *L* I wonder if it would've worked better to brown the outside in a little bit of oil and then finish them off in the oven?

    I made baked eggs this week!

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  3. It's a shame the recipe was a flop. I finally got last week's recipe done, I'm thinking about posting it because according to my husband the Kimchee was great.

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  4. So sorry it didn't work out for you, there's always next time!

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  5. The bad ones make us appreciate the good ones so much more:-)

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  6. That's too bad that it didn't work out, I hate when that happens! :(

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