Crispy Chicken Cutlets With Spicy Tomato Sauce
Anyone who visits my site frequently will know how much I love chicken. I am not sure why I love chicken so much, but if I haven’t had chicken in a while I really begin to crave it. One of my favorite dishes is a simple crispy, golden brown chicken cutlet. A chicken cutlet is simply a boneless, skinless chicken breast that has been sliced lengthwise into thin slices about 1/3 of an inch thick.
If you cannot find the chicken already cut into slices it is simple to do yourself. Just freeze the chicken breasts until they just about frozen and with a sharp knife cut into cutlets. Use a meat mallet and lightly pound the cutlets until they are of equal thickness. To keep things interesting, I try to find new ways of serving the cutlets (as well as to keep my husband from getting bored and complaining that we eat chicken too much), and recently topped cutlets with a quick, spicy tomato sauce that was very tasty.
As I always say, homemade breadcrumbs really do make this dish better. I always keep my leftover bread, cutting it into cubes and then freezing it for when I need fresh breadcrumbs. When I want breadcrumbs, I then throw a hand full of the cubes into my food processor, still frozen, with whatever seasonings I want.
I then pulse the mixture until it reaches the desired texture. This is a really simple recipe, but if you use the right ingredients it is quite delicious. You will have some sauce leftover you can use for another dish.
Buon Appetito!
Deborah Mele
Crispy Chicken Cutlets With Spicy Tomato Sauce
Homemade breadcrumbs makes all the difference in this easy chicken dish.
Ingredients
For The Cutlets:
- 4 Chicken Cutlets
- 3 Cups Stale Bread Cubes
- 1 Teaspoon Grated Lemon Zest
- 1 Teaspoon Chopped Red Chile Pepper (Optional)
- 3 Tablespoons Chopped Fresh Parsley
- 1/2 Cup Grated Parmesan Cheese
- 1/4 Cup Pine Nuts
- Sea Salt
- Cracked Black Pepper
- 2 Large Eggs
- 2 Tablespoons Butter
- 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
For The Sauce:
- 1 (26 Ounce) Can Chopped Imported Italian Tomatoes (I Also Like Pomi Brand Boxed Tomatoes)
- 2 Cloves Garlic, Minced
- 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
- 3 Tablespoons Chopped Fresh Parsley
- 1/3 Cup Chopped Kalamata Olives
- 3 Tablespoons Capers
- Red Pepper Flakes To Taste
- Sea Salt
- Cracked Black Pepper
Instructions
- Place the bread cubes, lemon zest, chile pepper, parsley, grated cheese, sea salt and pepper in the food processor, and pulse until finely blended.
- Add the pine nuts and pulse just until the nuts are coarsely chopped.
- Beat the eggs and dip the cutlets first into the eggs, then the breadcrumbs and press with your fingertips to help the crumbs adhere.
- Refrigerate the chicken for one hour to allow the crumb coating to set.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Place the butter and olive oil in a flat casserole dish or pan large enough to hold all of the cutlets and place the cutlets on top.
- Cook for 10 minutes until the cutlets are browned on one side and turn.
- Cook an additional 10 minutes or until the cutlets are cooked through.
- To prepare the sauce, heat the oil in a small saucepan until hot.
- Add the garlic and cook just until it is sizzling.
- Add the tomatoes, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and basil, and cook for about 15 minutes on low heat just until the sauce begins to thicken.
- Remove from the heat, stir in the olives, parsley, and capers and keep warm.
- Serve the cutlets with a scoop of warm tomato sauce on each.