It's all in the crusting....

You know, I love a good crusted chicken. Don't you? There's just something about a juicy chicken breast surrounded by a hearty crust. The thing is, I could never get that to happen when I made crusted chicken at home. It was good, yes, but not that true crusting that says, "Hold on to your tastebuds, this is going to be good!"

So a few months ago, I get this "sample" magazine in the mail. I usually recycle those without looking at them. Not sure why I looked at this one, but I am so glad I did. It was a sample issue of Cuisine at Home (more on why I really like this magazine in another post), and I decided to try their crusting chicken recipe. And it was good. REALLY good. And my tastebuds were happy.

I've made this one several times (actually a variation, which I will post another time) and it always comes out great. It is always a really good crust. Are you getting that I think this is a really good crust? Just checking.

This isn't a difficult recipe, just requires a little planning for the resting time. You're not actively prepping and preparing this for an hour, there's a 20-30 minute period where the chicken needs to rest.

Don't know why it needs to rest. You're doing all the work. Perhaps it's just giving you a chance to grab a glass of wine? Thoughtful, no? Oh, okay, the resting is giving the breading mixture time to set, which apparently makes all the difference, along with the combo saute/oven baking. The resting part is important, so use that time to clean up, prepare the rest of your meal, or have a glass of wine.


Crusted Chicken Breasts
Receipe courtesy of Cuisine at Home)
(makes 4 pieces, takes about 1 hour)

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (6-8 oz each)

For the dipping mixture:
2 egg whites
2 tsp. cornstarch
Juice of 1/2 lemon

For the crusting mixture:
1 cup coarse dry bread crumbs (see below)
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
zest of 1 lemon, minced
3 Tbsp. olive oil

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Halve each chicken breast lengthwise and lightly pound the pieces to an even 1/2 inch think. Blend egg whites, cornstarch and lemon juice in a wide shallow dish, set aside. Combine bread crumbs, parsley, salt, pepper, and zest in a second wide shallow dish. Crust chicken breasts. Let chicken rest at room temperature on a rack for 20-30 minutes to set the crust. Saute chicken in oil in a large, nonstick ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat until chicken is golden brown and crisp, about 3 minutes. Carefully turn over with a spatula, and transfer the skillet to the oven to finish cooking. Roast chicken just until done, about 8 more minutes.

Bread crumbs: the kind of crumbs are really important here. You need a rustic-type loaf, with a chewy, fairly soft, holey interior. Ciabatta is ideal. Cut the bread into cubes, leaving crust on, then use a food processor to get them crumb size. Work in batches, and don't overfill the bowl. The crumbs will not be a uniform size, and that is what you want. Dry the crumbs on a baking sheet for 10-15 minutes in a 200 degree oven until they're completely dried but not toasted. Freeze extra crumbs in a resealable bag. ---I do this a loaf at at time, so I always have fresh bread crumbs...doesn't take long at all for them to defrost, and they don't freeze themselves into a solid mass, so it's easy to scoop out however much you need and toss it back in the freezer.