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 Posted: Sun Aug 15, 2004 7:50 pm
Here is this week's Recipe of the Week.
Please prepare this at some point during the week and post your critique of it in this thread.
Name: Almond Chicken
Skill Level: 1
Ease: 1
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups sliced almonds
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 c all-purpose flour
1 egg -- beaten with 2 t water
1/4 c butter, melted
1 t lemon juice
1 1/2 t chopped fresh basil (substitute 1/2 t dried, but fresh is better)
salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
1. Crush almonds into small pieces. Set aside.
2. Lightly flatten chicken breasts. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Dredge chicken in flour. Pat off excess flour.
4. Dip chicken in beaten egg.
5. Press each chicken breast in almonds, covering chicken well. Place on buttered baking sheet. Bake at 425=B0 for 10 to 15 minutes or until chicken is just firm and almonds are golden.
6. Meanwhile, combine butter, lemon juice, and basil. Drizzle over cooked chicken breasts.
Notes:
Goes really well with a nice salad, or young potatoes.
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Posted: Sun Aug 15, 2004 8:42 pm
Can I sub the almonds with some other type of nut? We don't eat almonds. We have a weird paranoia of cyanide. xd
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Posted: Sun Aug 15, 2004 9:13 pm
lunashock Can I sub the almonds with some other type of nut? We don't eat almonds. We have a weird paranoia of cyanide. xd Sure, as long as you make it clear that you did a variation in your critique. Actually, that would be great to have a view of what worked or didn't work with playing around with the recipe. Cooking is all about imagination. So have fun. kmaritza's upcoming thread Ingredient of the Week will try to showcase the creativeness of all of our members in the kitchen.
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Posted: Sun Aug 15, 2004 10:36 pm
Cool, the recipe sounds soooo good, I just wanted to give it a try. I was thinking maybe cashews as a neutral thing, but I do love me some pecans. xd
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Posted: Sun Aug 15, 2004 10:37 pm
eek What's this cyanide paranoia rooted from?
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Posted: Sun Aug 15, 2004 10:51 pm
In labs and such, you detect the presence of cyanide from the smell. It smells like burnt almonds. eek
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Posted: Sun Aug 15, 2004 11:15 pm
;.;! Curse It! I need to get home so I can get a job so I can have money so I can buy the ingredents so I can try this!
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Posted: Sun Aug 15, 2004 11:26 pm
I just need to get a home with a kitchen...so I can cook for real again. I actually miss cooking and baking... but I dont' miss the cleanup
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Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2004 1:41 pm
UniKorn Tiger I just need to get a home with a kitchen...so I can cook for real again. I actually miss cooking and baking... but I dont' miss the cleanup *huggles* We're all praying for you and your family. I'm just glad your safe.
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Posted: Sat Aug 21, 2004 3:37 pm
I just put the chicken breasts in the oven. ^_^ -- Feel special, dammit! This is my birthday dinner! whee
Also, I'd like to make a note about when I was preparing my chicken.. I decided that putting all the almonds in a bowl then pressing the breasts onto them was a great waste because obviously the almonds all wouldn't end up on the chicken. Instead, I lined the bottom of a dish with a thin layer of almonds, put the chicken on, then poured some more almonds on top. The almonds that didn't stick to that chicken breast could then be used for the next. I saved about 3/4 of a cup of almonds doing this. biggrin
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Posted: Sat Aug 21, 2004 6:41 pm
Well, I made the chicken. It was absolutely delicious, and gorgeous. It's definitely a dish worthy of presentation. I had a problem with the sauce, though.. We didn't have any lemon, and Mom didn't know the kind of sauce so she just made a butter/wondra sauce with basil and lime in it. gonk The lime was... weird. In addition to the chicken we had chicken broccoli fettucine (that stuff from the bags *shame*), grilled portobello mushrooms ( gonk ), and tomatos with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. For the most part, a good meal. I'd definitely cook this chicken again. I rate it 5 out of 5
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Posted: Sun Aug 22, 2004 1:27 pm
My review
Prep:
During prep, I did a variation off of what JJ suggested. In other pan I poured about half of the crush almonds into one side and angled the pan so that the almonds were along one end of the pan. I pressed the breasts down and then sprinkled the rest on top.
I don't really keep lemon juice around so I just used a whole lemon and a spoon (I couldn't find the beater like is suppose to be used) to crush the rest of the pulp. Also, I just chopped enough basil to "look good" and didn't measure.
Presentation:
This was basically one of the best presentations for the time. I would definately do this for company. The only thing is that I might be tempted to use whole almonds and put it in a chopper to crush.
Taste and other comments:
I probably should have measured the lemon juice instead of using a whole lemon, or at least should not have crushed the pulp. I loved the stronger lemon taste, but it would not be appropriate for guests. I had a problem with the toppings staying on the chicken. Did anyone else have that problem? The time with the chicken in the oven gave me time to both wash the dishes from the first part and make the sauce twice (I knocked over the first batch).
With the almond chicken we had mashed potatoes, cooked baby carrots, and peas.
I would say that this is probably something that I am going to keep in my arsenal for dinners, espiecially when I'm having guests. Probably I would put this in the top 10% of my recipes.
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Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2004 12:02 pm
I didn't prepare the Recipe of the Week. However, I ate the results of Tet's cooking. ^_^ I liked the almond coating on the chicken really well. The sauce was a bit strong for me though. If he'd prepared it according to the instructions, I think it would've been awesome.
Visually, the dish is very appealing. It's definitely something I'd serve to guests because it looks so nice.
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Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2004 5:02 pm
I never posted how I went with this! sweatdrop
I've made this dish before, so I do it with guesstimates ratehr than follow the exact recipe. This usually results in me using fewer almonds and more spices (I have a four-storey spice rack I use excessively).
I use herbs in the flour that goes on the first coating of chicken.
Instead of butter, I used avocado oil, which worked very well.
As far as the crumbing staying on the chicken goes, I find that it can slide off rather easily, depending on how rounded your chicken breast still is.
It's all in the egg, because that's what bonds to the almonds.
For some erason, from experience, I found that fresher eggs give less of a problem, bt that's hard to measure empirically, so I might be completely wrong.
You could try adding a little seasoned flour (or almond meal) or even bread crumbs to the crushed almonds to give it a better overall bonding structure, I'd say.
I had my chicken over a mixed lettuce salad with cherry tomatoes. For that, I again substituted avocado oil for the butter in the sauce, and added "to measure" (meaining just enough so it would give a nice swirl over teh salad bed). It worked well for me.
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