chickencutlets

Chicken Cutlets

Breaded Chicken Cutlets frying in the Prima Festa Cast Iron Pan.

There are a variety of uses for a finished cutlet. It may be served as is, or in a Chicken Parmesan submarine sandwich, as a topping on a green salad, or as Chicken Parmesan. Turkey breast may also be substituted for Chicken.

In the old Italian neighborhoods, fresh chicken was only a short chase away. When an old hen stopped laying eggs, she gave up her henhouse life to become chicken cutlets, fried chicken, chicken cacciatore, chicken broth, and chicken soup. Breaded fried cutlets were one of the favorites.

Typical Ingredients

Chicken

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast
Pinch of sea salt
Generous pinch of freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Seasoned Bread Crumbs used for Chicken Cutlets

Breading

1 cup all purpose flour
1 to 2 cups fresh bread crumbs
½ cup grated Parmigiano cheese
1 teaspoon fresh sweet basil (Optional per your taste)
1 teaspoon chopped rosemary (Optional per your taste)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian Parsley
2 large eggs

Preparing the Chicken

Place the cutlets between sheets of plastic wrap and tenderize them with a metal meat mallet. If they are very thick, butterfly them lengthwise to make them thinner. Before breading, lightly season them with sea salt and pepper.

Place the bread crumbs, cheese, parsley, rosemary, and basil in a food processor and pulse them to a medium consistency. Place the bread crumb mixture in one shallow bowl, the flour in a second one and the beaten eggs in the third one. Lightly coat the cutlets with flour and dust off any excess. Dip them in the egg mixture and then dredge in the bread crumb mixture. Make sure that they are all evenly coated.

While you are making the cutlets, preheat your oven to 375º. In a large frying pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Place the cutlets in the pan and cook them until they are golden brown, about 5 minutes or so, but not burnt. Then turn them and cook on the other side for another five minutes or so. Make sure to not flood the cutlets in oil while you are baking them.

Baked Prima Festa Chicken Cutlets ready for serving.

When both sides are slightly golden brown, place the cutlets on a flat slightly greased baking pan and cover them with aluminum foil. Bake them for about 10 minutes. Remove the aluminum, turn the cutlets over, and bake for another ten minutes, or until golden brown. Check the inside of one cutlet to insure that the chicken is thoroughly cooked. From this point, your may serve these as simple cutlets, or use these to make other dishes with various sauces.

It is easy to over cook chicken breast to the point of them becoming too dry. In this case, the breading and the aluminum foil helped to keep them moist.