Peace and Love in the Kitchen

adapted from Williams Sonoma Family Meals by Maria Helm Sinskey

Serves 4-6 but multiplies easily

It’s crunch time:  two weeks of school left and counting.  Life is moving too fast. Between end-of-the-season sports tournaments; end-of-the-year parties; wrap up meetings for this, that, and the other; final exams; forms for summer camp; forms for school next year; and the usual chaos which always includes lost shoes, library books and retainers, I am playing defense.  Nevertheless, dinnertime comes around every single night.

Something’s gotta give.  For awhile, it was dinner.  I was hitting the food-to-go sections at Whole Foods and Central Market too much.  It was getting expensive. I needed my own food-to-go section in my freezer. One Sunday, I bought six pounds of boneless skinless chicken breasts and a new box of gallon size freezer bags.  I pounded a few of the breasts until they were thin and froze them individually.   At some point, they will be thawed, dredged in flour, and sauteed in butter and olive oil.  With some fresh lemon juice, that’s a quick chicken picatta.  I froze some others as they were.  Those will eventually be marinated and grilled and then kept in the refrigerator to wrap in tortillas or use in salad, soup, or sandwiches.

The rest of the chicken was sliced into fingers and breaded.  Three bags of chicken fingers are in the freezer, waiting for another day when they can be popped into the oven as is. While I, personally, am not a connoisseur of the chicken finger, this recipe makes the best oven fried chicken you’ll ever eat.  It begins with a standard preparation where strips of chicken breast are dipped into flour, egg whites, and then seasoned bread crumbs.  What makes these fingers so delicious is the way they are baked. Laying on a rimmed baking sheet, the chicken fingers wade in olive oil as they are oven-fried.  This makes them extra flavorful and crispy.  My family is crazy for them.

Note:  this recipe serves 4-6.  Do yourself the favor of multiplying it.  Freeze your oven-ready chicken fingers in gallon sized bags as I did. When you are ready to bake them, pour the 1/4 cup oil into a rimmed baking sheet and then place the frozen fingers on top. You’ll only need to adjust the baking time 2-3 minutes on each side as your fingers will be frozen going in.  Having a stockpile of these in the freezer is a very, very good thing.

oven fried chicken fingers served with peas and creamy mashed red-skinned potatoes

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup all purpose flour

4 large egg whites, lightly beaten

1 cup plain dried bread crumbs

kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 tsp fresh thyme, chopped

1 Tbsp Italian flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped

3 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, each cut into 4 strips

1.  PREP:  Preheat oven to 425.  Pour the oil into a rimmed baking sheet.  Place flour, egg whites, and bread crumbs into three separate shallow bowls and line them up in that order. Place your raw chicken fingers by the flour.  This is your assembly line.  One chicken finger at a time, dredge through the flour and shake off the excess.  Dip the floured finger into the egg whites and let the excess drip off.  Roll the now-wet chicken finger in the bread crumbs.  Place prepped chicken on the baking sheet.  Repeat these steps until all chicken fingers are prepped.

2.  BAKE:  Bake for 8 minutes.  Turn pieces over and bake until outside is golden and inside, the juices run clear, about 8-10 minutes longer.  Serve warm with a choice of dipping sauces:  ketchup, bbq sauce, marinara, or spicy mustard are nice.

Peace and love from my kitchen to yours,

Waverly

Tags:

• CHICKEN BREAST
• QUICK MEALS

3 comments

http://www.peaceandloveinthekitchen.com/2011/05/stockpiling-chicken-fingers

You might also like…

• (No image)

  MARIQUITA’S CHICKEN SALAD

• 

  FRICASSEED CHICKEN WITH ONIONS

• 

  MOROCCAN COUSCOUS AND ROAST LEMON CHICKEN: “THIS DINNER IS GOOD!”