Guest Chef - Pollo Empanizado: (Breaded Chicken)

My sister, Katie, is going to be a guest chef today. =0) She lives in Mexico and sent us some of her recipes to try. She is learning how to cook there for her husband and herself. Here is a recipe she sent for breaded chicken. I'll let her tell you the rest.....

Sorry but I have no measurements for this one! I just make as much or as little of the breading as I have chicken. But you pretty much can’t go wrong here.

Thawed Chicken Breast
Bread crumbs
Parmesan cheese
Poultry seasoning
Salt
Butter

You will need to first prepare your chicken breasts. Here it’s easy because I can buy them already pounded out for me but I have also done it myself and it’s not hard. Take your thawed breast and split/cut it open as many times as possible to make one big thin piece of chicken. The goal is to keep the breast in one piece so don’t cut all the way through. Leave one side attached. This is a little hard to explain but I’ve attached a picture of one so hopefully that helps. Once you have it cut put it between 2 pieces of plastic and pound it with a meat pounder or if you’re me then you have to use a hammer... Whatever works! You should end up with something like this:

Next, mix all ingredients (minus chicken) in a bowl. Don’t worry about too much poultry seasoning it isn’t a real strong blend. For 4 breasts you’ll want several good shakes of the Parmesan and a few pinches salt. Just enough bread crumbs to cover the chicken.
Pat dry the chicken if it is at all wet and place in the mixture. Sprinkle/rub mixture onto the chicken until totally covered. Repeat with all the chicken.

To cook: Melt a little butter in a skillet and cook the chicken uncovered on a low to medium heat. Chicken should be slightly browned on each side and no pink in the thickest part. I like to place them on a paper towel when done and pat off any remaining grease. The Parmesan cheese will also produce some oil so don’t go overboard on the butter or they will be really greasy.

I like to serve this with shredded lettuce and sliced tomato. I also cut a few pieces of a soft moist white Mexican cheese we have here called Panela. Fresh Mozzarella Cheese is close enough. I’ve also eaten it with a few slices of canned pineapple. Very yummy. The above guacamole is great with it also. Of course if you want to Americanize it just add some sour cream. A good side dish is Mexican rice. I also like it with some fresh steamed green beans.