Recipe - Chicken Cutlet & Crispy Egg
'I like the act of eating a chicken cutlet by myself'
In Episode 14 ‘EGGS ARE OUR FRIENDS,’ my guest Bettina Makalintal says of the fussy AF chicken cutlet, ‘I like doing something that feels extra just for myself, you know, I don’t always want to bread a chicken cutlet because that is kind of intensive, laborious, lots of dishes but I do like the act of eating a chicken cutlet by myself, I like the feeling of having put all this work into it so I think sometimes I do gravitate towards more fussy things when it’s just for me…’ AND I FELT THIS IN MY BONES.
As I have mentioned multiple times on the podcast, I do love rustling up an extra meal with or without other people around. My motto in life is ‘treat yourself’ and nothing feels more like treating myself to a really ridiculous dinner spread when I’m on my Jack Jones. Chicken cutlets, remind me of the old-school, OTT Italian trattorias where I grew up in North London. To this day when you step into one of these places, the white table cloths are still starched and heavy and the ageing waiters are still wearing suits suitable for a wedding — and there is something still so comforting about this fussiness, just like the cutlet.
Here is a recipe for an Italian style chicken cutlet (a Milanesa), topped, of course, with a crispy fried egg. I like the combination of chicken/egg dishes. There’s a dish in Portugal (where I used to live) for a roast chicken leg with skin on (extra crispy), topped with an egg, which I like very much. I was recently in New York and enjoyed fried chicken on a waffle, accompanied by a sunny side up egg. And of course, there’s a good old schnitzel, very often eaten with an egg on top. Eating a double fried, double protein dish is an HEAVY plate of food, but it’s so worth it. I made this for myself after a gym class on a Saturday afternoon when I was absolutely starving and it did the trick. Apart from there being more washing up than I would like, it’s actually relatively simple to rustle up and took me 20 minutes tops to make. If you aren’t feeling like Italian flavours, you can swap out the herbs for whichever you feel like - chilli, paprika etc. etc.
Time: 20 - 30 minutes
Makes: 1 portion
Plant Based Options: I’ve got nothing for you, sorry guys.
Faff Level: 4 (doesn’t take much time but requires a bit of skill)
Ingredients:
1 chicken breast (skinless and boneless)
50 g panko bread crumbs (if you don’t have panko you can either grate some slightly stale or lightly toasted bread)
20 g parmesan cheese, finely grated
1 tsp herbs of your choice — I use herbs de Provence or an Italian seasoning mix that has been living in the back of my kitchen cupboards for a while, but be creative!
1/2 clove finely chopped garlic
S&P to taste
Egg wash (whisked egg with a splash of water/milk)
Veggie oil and a non stick frying pan
1 egg
Directions:
Butterfly your chicken by slicing it lengthways down the middle and open it out so that it is flat on a solid surface.
Bash the chicken to flatten and tenderise it. I don’t have a meat hammer, so I cover it in clingfilm and use a rolling pin to roll it out, or I use a potato masher.
Put the chicken in the fridge.
Mix panko bread crumbs, parmesan, garlic, herbs, salt and pepper in a bowl, then lay out the mixture on a large-ish plate.
Dip the cold chicken in egg wash, then dip into the bread crumb mixture.
You are going to shallow fry the cutlet — add vegetable oil to a non stick frying pan. You want the oil to be just about the same depth as the thickness of the chicken. Heat oil until super duper hot then, just before adding the chicken, turn the heat down slightly.
Fry each side of the cutler for 2-3 minutes until golden brown.
On a plate lined with kitchen roll, drain the excess oil from the cooked cutlet.
Get rid of some of the oil in the pan and heat up the remaining.
Fry your egg and stick it on top of the cutlet! Enjoy!