Back to that Chicken: Pieces and Parts

Maximize your options with one bird

My son Al's friend Marquis wanted to learn how to cook.  Great, I said, bring over a chicken and we'll start there.  I didn't know Marquis well and thought, we'll see.  The following Sunday he showed up with two plump organic chickens that he found at Costco.  Ok--Marquis is serious.  I love that! We got down to it, taking apart the carcasses, making stock with the back and wings and any skin and extra fat, putting the thighs and drumsticks in a teriyaki marinade, and carefully deboning the two huge breasts into cutlets.  Using what was on hand we came up with a delicious recipe for Coconut Lime Chicken Cutlets for dinner that night, served with white rice and black beans. If I'd had some coconut on hand, I'd have toasted it to garnish the cutlets, but, hey, we were working in bachelor's quarters and made do with what we had, grinding up some savory crackers and bits of old bread in the VitaMix for the crumb coating. It was a mild dinner that Al enjoyed and tolerated well in his recuperation.  If you want to spice anything up, BAM up the beans side dish.

Coconut Lime Chicken

Serves 6 modest sized healthy portions or 2-3 for hungry people

one whole bone in large chicken breast

1 cup flour with 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper

1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water

1 cups dry bread crumbs or Panko

4 tablespoons coconut oil

zest and juice of one or two limes, depending on their size

Remove the chicken from the bone to make two boneless cutlets.  Cut each cutlet into thirds and pound out between plastic wrap tie a mallet--or a wine bottle--until the scallopini is 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick.  Place the flour, salt and pepper in a pie pan and do the same with the beaten egg in a second one and the crumbs in a third one.  The shallow, wide pie or cake pan will make it easy to coat the chicken. Dredge the scallopini in the seasoned flour and then in the egg and finally in the crumbs. Place them on a tray and hold until all are coated.  You can do that ahead and hold the chicken in the refrigerator until closer to dinner time.  Heat the coconut oil in a large sauce pan until it is quite hot but not smoking.  Using tongs, grab the coated scallopini and saute over medium high heat until golden brown and then flip and cook the other side.  Add more coconut oil, if needed, to avoid sticking.  When the chicken is cooked, place it in an ovenproof casserole dish and hold in the oven while you make the sauce. Add the lime juice and zest to the sauce pan and stir to loosen all the critical caramelized bits of protein and chicken goodness.  Get the sauce hot, pour over the chicken and serve.

Key concepts:  One whole chicken breast will yield 2 chicken cutlets, which are boneless pieces of chicken breast.  Boneless chicken breast that is cut into pieces and pounded out makes scallopini, which are thin slices of meat (veal, pork, or turkey may be substituted) that cook very quickly and maintain moisture because they are first coated with flour or sometimes flour, egg and crumbs.  Coconut oil's smoke point is 350 degrees F, the same as butter.  It is delicate so be careful to get it hot but not too hot or it will degrade.