This lightened twist on Chicken Parmesan comes together quickly and makes for a perfect weeknight dinner.
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When it comes to food, the overall flavor isn't the only thing I consider when composing a meal. For me, texture is just as important, so I always try to make sure there are contrasting textures so the softer components are balanced out by the crispy or crunchy components. As weird as it may sound, I like to keep my mouth entertained while I'm eating.
I think that's why I've been harboring a secret crush on Milanese-style dishes for the past few years. Especially the ones that call for the breaded cutlets to be pan-fried and served with some type of chilled salad on top, like my
Panko-Crusted Turkey Cutlets with Arugula and Parmesan.
Taking all of that into account, it should come as no surprise that the recipe for
Spicy Chicken Milanese in the January 2014 issue of
Food & Wine caught my attention. I tailored the recipe a bit to better fit our personal tastes, as well as the ingredients already on hand in our pantry. After only preparing it once, I became obsessed.
Although Stephen and I regularly eat spicy food, I halved the amount of cayenne pepper in the egg mixture since he's not the biggest fan of it. I also used honey rather than Dijon mustard to balance the spiciness with a little bit of sweetness.
What resulted was a dish that had a level of spice that was subtle, that increased in the background the more you ate, rather than one that was in-your-face, virtually killing your taste buds after just one bite.
Another thing to love about this recipe?
It makes two servings.
We had the perfect amount of food without having any leftover breaded chicken that would have undoubtedly lost its appealing crispiness after hanging out in the refrigerator overnight.
Sure, sometimes leftovers are ideal. But in this case, I think fresh is best.
While our meal did come together relatively quickly, I wasn't able to have dinner on the table in 12 minutes, as indicated in the
Food & Wine recipe. But I think that had more to do with the fact that I had a very curious dog at my feet while I was cooking rather than any major issues with the recipe itself.
Just a theory. ;-)
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