Tonight was a good old-fashioned feeling dinnertime. I made some lovely breaded, cheesy chicken with steamed broccoli and buttery egg noodles on the side. I have been holding onto this recipe for months now so there was a lot of anticipation tonight in making it. It is like a basic breaded chicken recipe except add a lot of cheese and lemon, yum yum!

©Everyday Cooking Adventures 2013

I decided to use boneless, skinless chicken thighs instead of a breast because it’s what I had on hand and I saw that you could pound the chicken thighs between saran wrap to flatten them out if needed in order to make a breaded chicken thigh recipe.  My Organic chicken thighs were actually already quite flattened so I didn’t have to add any extra steps. I also omitted step 2 and just rinsed the thighs, let them dry on paper towels and then dredged them. This saved time and energy and I think it was just fine.

Also, a tip: use a spatula instead of tongs to turn the chicken or else you risk loosing some of the breading. The chicken came out with a lovely crisp breaded layer but I felt it was a little too lemony. Next time, I will lessen the amount of lemon zest I use in the breading. The chicken was tender and the cheese added great depth to the dish. Here’s my lemon chicken romano:

©Everyday Cooking Adventures 2013

Lemon Chicken Romano

• 1 boneless, skinless chicken breast, trimmed, halved horizontally*, and pounded to 1/2-inch thick
• 1 oz shredded Mozzarella cheese (1/4 cup)
• 1 oz shredded Provolone cheese (1/4 cup)
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup finely shredded Romano cheese
• 1 Tbsp chopped fresh oregano
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• Lemon slices or wedges for serving (you can just use the one that was zested)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.

2. Sprinkle each side of the chicken cutlet lightly with salt, let stand at room temperature 20 minutes. Combine Mozzarella and Provolone cheese in a bowl, set aside.

3. To prepare for the dredging: In one shallow dish, whisk together flour and egg until smooth. In a second shallow dish, toss together Panko bread crumbs, Romano cheese, oregano, lemon zest, garlic powder and black pepper.

4. After 20 minutes, pat chicken dry with paper towels. Working with 1 chicken cutlet at a time, dredge chicken in egg mixture, coating both sides and allowing excess to run off, then immediately transfer to Romano mixture and coat both sides with mixture, while pressing gently to allow crumbs to adhere.

5. Pour a tablespoon each of olive oil and vegetable oil into a non-stick skillet and heat over medium-high heat. Once oil is hot, add the coated chicken cutlets and fry without moving them until bottom is crispy and golden brown, about 2 minutes, then using metal tongs rotate to opposite side and cook until golden brown, about 2 minutes longer. Transfer fried chicken to a large plate lined with paper towels to drain.

6. Place cutlets on greased, rimmed baking sheet, sprinkle tops with Mozzarella cheese mixture and transfer to preheated oven to bake about 12 minutes (you can broil during the last 1 – 2 minutes if desired). Remove from oven and garnish with lemon slices or wedges, serve warm.

*freeze chicken breasts for 15 minutes to help slice easier, then lay breast flat and trim into two pieces through the thickness of the breast.