I think I can honestly count on one finger the amount of times I have been to a certain fried-chicken establishment from Kentucky. I think I can even recall the exact day. It was after I came back from the US, ironically enough, and was jet lagged and couldn't be bothered to cook. The bucket of chicken and wobbly fries that we procured obviously did not enthuse us enough to motivate our return within the last 7 years. If I want a crunchy-coated spiced chicken breast I make it myself.
This particular coating does not draw inspiration from the deep South, rather it is actually more European - though I'm not sure where in Europe! I guess it's closest to a parmigiana - the chicken dish they make in Southern Italy.
Crunchy Surbiton-fried Chicken
- Make some breadcrumbs. Panko are great if you have them, but honestly, you can just blitz some old white bread in a blender. I used the hollowed-out remaining 15cm of a stale baguette.
- Put the breadcrumbs in a shallow bowl. Season with salt and lots of black pepper.
- Finely grate some parmigiano cheese (I had a typical triangle of it and grated about 3cm thickness off). Add to the breadcrumbs and mix.
- Add half a teaspoon of cayenne pepper. Mix.
- Add a pinch of dried oregano. Mix.
- Beat an egg. Put in a shallow bowl.
- Take a fistful of flour. Put in a separate shall bowl.
- Cut your breast of chicken lengthways through the grain to create two thin escalopes.
- Dip one into flour, then egg, then the breadcrumbs. Make sure it's nicely coated. Repeat for the second breast.
- Heat some olive oil in a pan. When it's nice and hot add the breaded escalopes. Cook for 4 minutes each side. Don't be tempted to turn, you need a crust to form.
- It's entirely likely your breasts are cooked through and ready to eat. Mine was rather thick, though, so I heated an oven to 180C and finished it inside for 10 minutes.
- Don't overcook!
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