Full of Garlic: Guest Post Today & Easy Chicken Paillard with Layered Roasted Potatoes

My really good friend and amazing cook, Morgan, is going to guest post a recipe today! She has been cooking for a long time and it shows. She shared her recipe for chicken and potatoes...doesn't get much better than that! Enjoy :)

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Snow Day!

Thank you, Jaime for allowing me to guest post on your blog. This should be fun!

I was originally going to post my recipe for turkey and vegetable chili, but due to an opportunity to cook during a recent snow day in Milwaukee, I decided to tweak my plans. Being spontaneous in my cooking is more my style anyway. I will inform you that although I love recipes and I am a collector of cookbooks, I rarely follow a recipe. I usually will scan over them to get an idea and then create my own version. This is usually in an attempt to make it healthier or use what ingredients I have in the house. Due to today’s recent events (no work due to massive amounts of snow), I decided to create a menu based off staple ingredients I keep in the house.

The first item on the menu is a healthy version of scalloped potatoes. I am layering a combination of unpeeled sweet and russet potatoes for increased nutritional value and instead of cream, I am using chicken stock. I also added a few extra ingredients for a pop of flavor.

The main dish is my version of chicken paillard. In this version I am lightly coating thin boneless, skinless chicken breasts in panko bread crumbs. I will brown the chicken in olive oil before finishing it in an oven. This is a fast dish to prepare any night of the week. Yum. Let’s get started.

Layered Roasted Potatoes
Ingredients:
5 Russet Potatoes (scrubbed and thinly sliced, keep the skins on)
3 Sweet Potatoes (scrubbed and thinly sliced, keep the skins on)
1 Onion-small (thinly sliced)
4 Garlic Cloves (chopped finely)
1TBS Olive Oil
½ tsp Dried Thyme
½ cup Chicken Stock
Salt and Pepper to season

Preheat oven to 375. Combine all of above ingredients, except chicken stock into a large bowl. Toss to cover each potato with all ingredients. Layer potatoes, overlapping one over the other (a pattern is not necessary, be sporadic and have fun), in a shallow baking pan. Typically, 2 layers of potatoes, one on top of the other is achievable. Make sure all of the onions and garlic are covering the potatoes, and well distributed between the layers. Pour chicken stock alongside the pan to give the potatoes cooking liquid. Cover pan tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour at 375. After 1 hour, remove foil and bake for an additional 25-30 minutes. Just long enough to crisp up the top layer of potatoes. Remove from the oven. You may top with freshly grated parmesan cheese to give a bit of decadence, but this is optional. When you are in my kitchen however, cheese is never an option, it is a requirement. Enjoy!

Easy Chicken Paillard

Ingredients:
4 Boneless-Skinless Chicken Breasts (pound thin, creating an even thickness throughout)
3 Eggs (beaten)
3 TBS Water
2 cups Panko Bread Crumbs
½ tsp Dried Thyme
2-3 TBS Olive Oil
Salt and pepper to season

Preheat oven to 425. Pound chicken breast with meat tenderizer/rolling pin to desired thickness. Keep in mind the thinner the chicken the faster the cooking time. Pat chicken breasts very dry with paper towel. Season both sides of chicken breast with salt and pepper. Mix water and beaten eggs to create an egg wash in a shallow pan. Coat chicken in egg wash. Next, dredge chicken in panko bread crumbs to form a light layer. Set chicken aside for a few minutes while you prepare the pan. Make sure your hands and work services are disinfected to prevent cross contamination from the raw poultry.

Heat olive oil to medium-high heat in a large shallow pan. I use a griddle pan and it works great. Be careful not to heat the oil too high to prevent smoking and burning. Place chicken in pan and quickly sear each side. The key is to only flip the chicken one time. Once the chicken is in the pan, leave it alone! Allow the crust to form. The chicken needs to brown for roughly 2-3 minutes. Flip once and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes on the other side. Once chicken is browned, place onto baking sheet and bake at 425 to finish cooking and keep chicken crisp. Roughly 6-8 minutes is all that should be needed. Again, this will depend on the thickness of your chicken. This often takes some practice, but once you get a feel for the cooking time, this process gets intuitive and much easier. The point is to cook the chicken just until done. No one likes a dried out piece of chicken. If you use a thermometer when you cook, I often do, I look for an internal cooking temperature of 160 degrees. Remember the chicken will continue to cook in the carry over process once removed from the oven. When done, you may serve with a simple arugula salad and a slice of lemon. Fast and easy!

I hope you enjoyed my impromptu cooking adventure. Maybe Jaime will invite me back in the future? Until then, happy cooking!

Peace,
Morgan