Chicken Francese

Chicken Francese

Last week was full of dinners. Some weeks I feel like we only have leftovers, pizza, sandwiches, or cereal. Those are usually the times when The Husband is out of town. One of last week's menu items included Chicken Francese.

About a month ago, I catered a dinner for 15 high school football players. My client is a good friend who didn't have enough time to make the dinner herself so I was enlisted for the job. The menu was simple enough. Meatballs with fresh marinara sauce, Italian sausage and peppers, chicken francaise, and mixed green garden salad. She requested the chicken francaise. I have to confess that I never made it before and set out finding a recipe. One of my favorite sites for recipes is Epicurious. It contains all the recipes from Bon Appetit and Gourmet magazines as well as other sources. A great feature of the site is that other foodies that have prepared the recipes leave reviews. It kinda gives you a leg up before starting. It is a indispensable resource for the new and old cooks alike.

The recipe for Chicken Francese was fantastic. I had never used the technique of dipping the chicken in seasoned flour and then eggs and then frying in olive oil. I always had another coating of panko or bread crumbs. It really did taste like it was from a fine restaurant. I doubled the sauce ingredients because it was so good.

The whole family liked this recipe. I paired it with oven sweet and red potato fries and barely cooked snow pea pods. I thought the fries were a french-like addition. I wouldn't mind eating this every week. Neither would My Oldest. She was a member of the Clean Plate Club.

Clean Plate Club

The catering went well I think. I ended making 10 pounds of Chicken Francese and 5 pounds each of the Meatballs and Italian Sausage and Peppers. Those football players ate everything!