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Wednesday 26 August 2009

Day 6: Crisp parmesan chicken with garlic & lemon broccoli

Crisp Parmesan chicken with garlic & lemon broccoli

recipe: Janine Ratcliffe

Olive Magazine, August 2009



According to the recipe, it should take 50minutes, serve 2, and is classed as 'easy'.


Ingredients

skinless chicken thigh fillets 4
50g parmesan, finely grated
white breadcrumbs 50g
1tbsp flour
1 egg, beaten
1 small head broccoli, broken into florets
25g butter
1 garlic clove, sliced
lemon 1/2, zested and juiced

Method

Heat the oven to 200c. Season the chicken thighs. Mix the Parmesan and breadcrumbs on a flat plate and put the flour and egg onto separate plates. Coat each thigh in flour, dusting off the excess, then dip in egg and roll in breadcrumbs. Sit on a rack over a baking tray and bake for 40 minutes until crisp and golden.
Boil or steam the broccoli until tender, then drain. Melt the butter in a pan and gently sizzle the garlic for 2-3 minutes. Add the lemon juice and zest and season. Toss with the broccoli and serve with the chicken.


What it should look like...
Original photograph: Lis Parsons

What mine looked like...


The facts:

The chicken was one of the ingredients on the list I already had, though I used free-range chicken breasts rather than thighs as those were already in the freezer. I lessened the cooking time to 30 minutes in the oven. I always finds that having to 'crisp' something with flour, egg then crumbs always puts me off making it as it seems so 'phaffy' but I followed the recipe and it was really easy - just a few more plates to wash up! Easily made within the time, served two as stated, but I also did a baked potato for hubby.

Taste:

I was worried, as I always am with dishes like this, that the crumb wouldn't crisp and would be soggy, but, true to the recipe, the crust crisped beautifully in the oven, turning a rich golden brown. The chicken itself, with a hint of Parmesan, was very tasty, but I think had I made it with the thighs as per the recipe, it would have had a little more moisture inside. Now, there's not a lot to like about broccoli, it just does the job of being green and good for you, so it was nice to hear the comment, 'I love the broccoli,' from my husband! It's not often that people actually bother to speak about the taste of things such as broccoli, but the lemon and garlic butter sauce was easily absorbed by the florets and as such, it was particularly tasty!

My one negative comment would be the overall lack of something 'wet' to go alongside it. Like I said, the whole meal would have been more moist had I used thighs, but I feel it still would have been rather dry. A homemade fresh tomato salsa, with a chilli spice, would have been perfect!
Last meal tomorrow: Tandoori Pork Burgers.

4 comments:

  1. We make something similar to this quite a lot and usually use chicken breasts, I haven't found it to be dry but then we tend to eat it with salad so perhaps the dressing helps. I like the idea of a salsa though.

    Interesting to see how the different dishes look, I think the food stylists at Olive must use very small plates :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. @ginger I think you're right about the plates! Either that or put all the portions on one! It wasn't really that the chicken was dry, just the overall dish. Thanks for your comments.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Looks and sounds good, in particular about the broccoli, always good to liven it up! Have made something very similar to the chicken from an old recipe cutting but it also had a little saffron in, with the parmesan, gave it a lovely colour :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. You're right Merlotti, it is much better using thighs than breast as the meat stays really juicy. It's a good point about the salsa, maybe next time!

    ReplyDelete

Hi,
Would love to hear your thoughts and ideas!
Merlotti x

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