Crisp Breaded Chicken Cutlets with Parmesan (Chicken Milanese)

source	Cook's Country
categories	main dish, meat
yield	Serves 4
prep time	15 mins
total time	1 hr

INGREDIENTS

4 (6to 8-oz) boneless, skinless chicken breasts, tenderloins removed, trimmed

Salt and pepper

4 to 6 slices hearty white sandwich bread, crusts removed, torn into 1 1/2-inch pieces

¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

¾ cup all-purpose flour

2 Lrg eggs

¾ cup vegetable oil

Lemon wedges

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 200 degrees. Cover chicken breasts with plastic wrap and pound to even 1/2-inch thickness with meat pounder. Pat cutlets dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper.

2. Process bread in food processor to fine crumbs, 20 to 30 seconds (you should have 1 ½ cups bread crumbs). Combine bread crumbs and Parmesan in shallow dish. Place flour in second shallow dish. Lightly beat eggs in third shallow dish.

3. Working with 1 cutlet at a time, dredge in flour, shaking off excess; dip in egg mixture, allowing excess to drip off; and coat with bread crumbs, pressing gently to adhere. Transfer to plate and let sit for 5 minutes.

4. Set wire rack in rimmed baking sheet and cover half of rack with triple layer of paper towels. Heat oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Place 2 cutlets in skillet and cook until deep golden brown and crisp and chicken registers 160 degrees, about 2 ½ minutes per side, gently pressing on cutlets with spatula for even browning.

5. Place cutlets on paper towel-lined side of prepared wire rack to dry, about 15 seconds per side. Move cutlets to unlined side of wire rack and transfer to oven to keep warm. Repeat with remaining 2 cutlets. Serve with lemon wedges.

NOTES

Make sure to remove the tenderloin from each breast so the cutlets will be a uniform shape and will cook evenly; reserve tenderloins for another use. Don’t substitute store-bought bread crumbs for the fresh bread crumbs. For crisp, moist fried chicken, we start by pounding chicken breasts to an even 1/2-inch thickness to ensure even cooking. Seasoning the chicken, instead of the breading, guarantees that the meat will be well seasoned. Homemade bread crumbs are easy to make and give a light, crisp texture. Adding Parmesan to the bread crumbs adds a signature Italian flavor to the cutlets. Using a standard breading procedure (dipping in flour, beaten egg, and bread crumbs) ensures that the breading will stay in place. Shallow-frying cutlets, two at a time, ensures even cooking without creating too much steam that would otherwise leave the bread crumbs soggy. Gently pressing the cutlets with a spatula ensures that they will lie flat while they fry. Finally, resting the cutlets on a paper towel–lined wire rack for about 15 seconds per side removes grease. Moving the cutlets to the unlined side of the wire rack kept the coating crisp while we finished the next batch.

NUTRITION