Stretching chicken

How about a recipe?  I realize I haven't posted one in a long time and it's either that or I drone on a bit more about the travel plans I'm making.  I think you'll all take the recipe.

When you're feeding a lot of people, you learn to stretch you meat.  A lot.  For instance, one dinner last week, I made about a pound of chicken stretch to feed all 10 of us.  Pretty impressive, huh?  Here's what I did.  (It's nothing spectacular, but is easy and tasty.)

Lemon Chicken Tenders on Egg Noodles

~1 pound of chicken tenders
Panko bread crumbs
Olive oil for cooking
Egg noodles, cooked
1 or 2 lemons, cut into wedges

Take the chicken and cut the tenders into smaller pieces.  I usually try to get three pieces out of one.  Take a meat mallet (or rolling pin or something heavy) and carefully flatten each piece.  I find this therapeutic.  But don't take all of your aggression out on the chicken, or it will not remain in one piece.  Pour the Panko bread crumbs into a bowl. (Yes, you really need these.. it makes all the difference.  You can find them in the Asian section of the grocery store.)  Coat each piece on chicken in bread crumbs and set aside.  I don't put anything else on, just the bread crumbs.

Heat olive oil in a frying pan and quickly cook the chicken, turning once.  It doesn't take long because the chicken is so thin.  I put them all on a plate and keep them warm in a very low oven at this point.  While you are doing this, have your water heating to cook the noodles.  I cook two bags of noodles, but you may only need one.  This is the key to stretching your meat, lots of noodles!  When they are cooked and drained, I put some butter on them so they don't stick.

To serve, put some noodles on a plate, top with a couple of slices of chicken and put a lemon slice on the side  so each person can squeeze the lemon over the chicken and noodles.  Since this dish is a bit on the bland side (thus making it very popular with certain children), I will always serve a bright vegetable along side.  Broccoli is good and the lemon can be squeezed on it as well.  The roasted Brussels sprouts with balsamic vinegar and bacon that my sister-in-law introduced us to at Thanksgiving would also be good.  Anything with color and taste.

This is an easy meal that is pretty inexpensive.  I figure that the total comes out to less then $7 for all the ingredients which puts it at about $0.70 per serving.
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Since we're talking about food, I have a new article up at the magazine I occasionally write for.  It's on legumes.  And I did NOT make up the title.  There is also a recipe for roasted chickpeas that you can take a look at as well.  Thanks.

Comments

LawMommy said…
"I find this therapeutic."

Ha!
thecurryseven said…
It's impossible for me to write without putting in asides. You should sit next to me in a meeting. I'm terribly distracting, I can't help myself.

e
Jennifer said…
Too funny... I've been too busy to check blog updates in a while, but I made time tonight, and this is the first I've read. Doug and I were alone tonight (Mark is giving an exam and won't be home until late), so I relished the opportunity to make an easy dinner, and guess what I made? Panko-coated chicken breast! I managed to get five nice-sized pieces of chicken out of one breast (!!), and I baked mine instead of cooking it on the stove, but what a coincidence! I wish I'd thought of the lemon slices; it was blander than I like. (I went with roasted potatoes and green beans for sides. Doug ate the beans and some potatoes but refused the chicken. Maybe too bland for him, too?)

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