Crispy Chicken

You know the days when you are just not in the mood to cook, go out, talk to anyone. Yea..u got it…When you are all too moody and lazy(yea I can do both..together!), for anything. And today was one such day. All I wanted was to be comfortable on the couch, read a book while listening to music or watch TV and browse the internet simultaneously (ya I can multi-task too). The icing on the cake would have been if I could also just throw the husband and son outta the house too (for sometime), for some peace. But since the son was sick, there wasn’t going to be any luck in that department. That leaves me with next option, that is feed them “something” and send them off to sleep. And that would indirectly mean that I need to get up and cook that something. These are the times when I cry out loud… “why me??? why can’t my man cook? why don’t I have a house help?? ..arggh!”

The two one and a half men of the house are fine with anything that I serve for dinner. Well, they don’t exactly have a choice. But I, out of all the days, today, I felt like eating MEAT !(and no I’m not pregnant :p). 10 minutes into raiding the freezer (well, it takes time digging items out of an overly stuffed freezer, debating what to make with it…and then keeping it b’cos it doesn’t suit the mood..)  I finally lay my hands on “Tender Chicken Breasts”. The word “tender” was calling out to me … “I take less time to cook. Pick me!” So I did. Now I know what meat to cook….Chicken Breasts. But what do I do with it?? I knew I didn’t want anything Indian, like curries/gravy or anything fried (that’s all too much work – cooking and washing)…and decided it’s going to be a grill. Life is soo easy when you grill something. Marinate the meat, throw it in the hot oven, turn the timer on…and go about reading a book, dance, sing, sleep, anything…till the buzzer goes off. Beeeeeeeep!!! And dinner is ready. 🙂

Now that 2 questions were answered. The next big problem still remains. A recipe!!! Searching the “worldwide” web was going to be too time consuming and there was no guarantee I would get a fabulous recipe. And checking out my recipe books ….would mean pretty much the same. “What do I do?”, I wondered while fiddling with the chicken breasts package in hand. Minutes went by with absolutely no thoughts or ideas. When suddenly I lay eyes on the back of the package and it read ” Suggested Recipe : Crispy Chicken”. I warned myself “don’t get too excited!” (that’s because I never have even half the ingredients of what the recipe calls for). But this time I did. I had them all. And the best part is that it was a grill recipe, just like I wanted. Yippieee…

I tweaked it a little bit because I like my food spicy. It was delicious. Crispy and crunch on the outside, soft and juice and tender on the inside. Fabulous! Here’s what I did along with what the recipe calls for:

CRISPY CHICKEN

Ingredients

• 500 grams boneless skinless chicken breasts (that’s about 3-4 pieces)
• 1 tablespoon dried thyme leaves (recipe asks for 1 teaspoon)
• 1 teaspoon minced chives
• 1/2  cup dry purchased fine bread crumbs (recipe asks for 1 cup…which is way too much for 500 grams chicken. Plus also u won’t get all of  the herbs, spices n cheese  into your marinade since your mixing them all)
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper (recipe asks for 1/8 teaspoon pepper)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 egg beaten

Method

In a shallow bowl, combine the herbs, bread crumbs, grated cheese, and salt and pepper. Drizzle the olive oil over this mixture, working it into crumbs gently until crumbs are coated.

Dip chicken breasts into the beaten egg, and then firmly press each coated breast into bread crumb mixture.

Grease in a baking tray, sprinkle the left over bread crumbs and then place the chicken on top of it ( I do this always so that the chicken doesn’t get soggy while baking).

Bake in a preheated oven at 400° F (205° C) for 18-24 minutes until thoroughly cooked.

Alternatively, you can also cook the chicken breasts on a grill, turning occasionally, for 4 to 6 minutes.

That’s all the effort it takes! Within minutes, you won’t be able to concentrate on your book or the TV show, because the house now smells divine! 🙂

Serve with some fresh green salad and baked potatoes and garlic mayonnaise as a dip. Enjoy.

Cheers!