Easy Crispy Chicken

Easy Crispy Chicken

• 150g white bread (about 4 slices)
• 4 tsp dried oregano 
• Couple pinches of sea salt
• 25g Parmesan cheese, finely grated
• 4 tbsp low-fat natural yoghurt
• 1-2 tbsp plain flour
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• Zest of one lemon
• Fresh ground black pepper

Method:

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees (200 fan).  Place the bread on a large baking tray lined with baking parchment and toast until pale golden brown.  Leave to cool, then remove the crust and discard, and tear into large pieces.

Put the bread into a food processor and blitz into crumbs.  Tip these into a large bowl and toss with the oregano, salt, lemon zest and Parmesan cheese and season with lots of black pepper.  Place the flour and yoghurt onto separate plates and firstly coat each breast in the flour (shaking off any excess) and then dip into the yoghurt and then press into the breadcrumb mix and ensure the whole breast gets a good thickish crust all over.

Transfer the chicken to the lined baking tray and bake for around 25-30 minutes until crisp and golden and cooked through.

I served this with a green salad and coleslaw and it went down well, definitely something for those warmer nights, might do a cheeky portion of chips next time!

Recipe adapted from the Hairy Dieters Cook Book.

Homemade chicken kievs

Homemade chicken kievs

Well Christmas and New Year have been and gone, all roasted out, how about a nice chicken Kiev?  Ordinarily I would have had this with a big plate of fries but given everything that I've eaten over the festive period I went semi healthy and had a big plate of rainbow salad with mine!

• 2 chicken breasts
• Salted butter
• Handful of finely chopped parsley
• 2 minced garlic cloves
• Squeeze of lemon juice
• Panko breadcrumbs
• Beaten egg
• Flour

Method:

In a bowl place enough butter to make two small pats that will go inside the chicken, add the garlic, parsley and the lemon juice, mix together using the back of a spoon, once combined form into a small sausage shape and put into the fridge to firm up.

Place the chicken breasts inside a plastic sandwich bag (or something similar) and give them a good whacking with a rolling pin or the base of a pan, we need to flatten them slightly. Using a sharp knife make a slit in the side of each piece of chicken, not too large but use the knife to work some space inside the chicken to accommodate the garlic butter, placing half into each chicken breast.

Place the Panko breadcrumbs into a deep dish, put some flour onto a plate and beat the egg in a bowl large enough to dunk the chicken into.  Roll the chicken in the flour, dunk in the egg and then roll in the breadcrumbs, once done repeat the egg and breadcrumb process that way you ensure you get a good coating which will get pretty crispy once cooked.  Place the chicken in the fridge and leave to firm up before cooking.

Put some vegetable oil into a large frying pan and heat up ready for the frying stage.  You can drop a breadcrumb into the oil and if it sizzles you know the oil is hot enough. Place the chicken breasts into the pan and cook for around 20 minutes, turning half way through (this can take longer depending how thick your chicken breasts are, you can always cut into the end part of the chicken to ensure that it is cooked).  Remove the breasts from the pan and place onto some kitchen roll on a plate in order to absorb any excess oil then serve.

The good thing with this recipe is you can pretty much put what you want into the butter mix, next time I'm going to try coriander, lime and chilli flakes, give it a bit of a Mexican twist!  Obviously you can add as much or as little garlic to the original recipe as you like and adjust the amount of butter depending on how many kievs you are making.