Panko Chicken Cutlets with Marinated Tomatoes
Panko chicken cutlets are a delicious way to build a tasty meal from market ingredients.
Start with pastured chicken, eggs and honey. Then, add seasonal produce, such as cherry tomatoes, basil, garlic and more. Plus, fixing your own panko breadcrumbs is always an option using locally-baked bread.
Recipe courtesy of Chef Jessica from Little Gem Culinary.
Ingredients
Marinated cherry tomatoes:
2 pints cherry tomatoes (use a mixture of yellow and red)
1 to 3 cloves fresh garlic
2 to 3 leaves basil
1 shallot
1 T white wine vinegar or white balsamic
2 T olive oil
1 tsp honey
Salt and pepper to taste
Panko chicken:
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 cup panko breadcrumbs*
½ cup grated parmesan cheese
1 T nigella seeds
½ tsp red pepper flakes
3 eggs (beaten)
1 cup flour
Salt and pepper to taste
*See homemade panko recipe below
Instructions
Marinated cherry tomatoes:
Slice the cherry tomatoes in half and add to a mixing bowl.
Grate in a few cloves of garlic (as many as you like, depending on the size and variety) and add to the tomatoes.
Add shredded basil leaves, olive oil, honey and vinegar.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Set aside to marinate at room temperature.
Panko chicken cutlets:
Slice the chicken breasts in half.
Use a meat mallet to pound the filets as thin as you can get—without tearing up the meat. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
In a mixing bowl, create the breading mix by adding together panko breadcrumbs (see recipe for homemade panko below), parmesan cheese, nigella seeds and pepper flakes.
Prepare a breading station with a shallow bowl for each: beaten eggs, flour and panko.
Bread the chicken in this order: flour, eggs, panko.
Add neutral oil to a large frying pan. Generously cover the bottom. When the oil is hot (test with a piece of breading – when it sizzles, the oil is ready) carefully place the breaded chicken cutlets into the pan. Work in batches so they have plenty of space.
Cook thoroughly until golden brown on each side.
Slice the cutlets into strips and serve over a bed of lettuce with marinated tomatoes on top. Enjoy!
Homemade panko breadcrumbs:
Preheat the oven to 300° F
Shred chunks of white bread with a food processor using a shredding disk to make coarse crumbs.
Spread the crumbs on a baking sheet.
Bake about about 6 to 8 minutes or until the crumbs are dry, but not brown. Shake the sheet twice during baking.
Immediately remove bread crumbs from oven and allow them to cool. Store in a glass jar or in the freezer.