Dinner WINNER: Crispy Skillet Fried Chicken and Fettuccine (using my homemade sauce!)

First off, meet one of my very favorite oils.  This stuff is absolutely delicious, and one of my favorite things to fry with.  Keep in mind my version of frying is a skim of oil in a skillet, not deep frying...that stuff is dangerous.

Ingredients:
-1 Chicken tenderloin
-1 egg
-1/8 C milk (not stringent, I basically just like to make a thick batter of mostly egg)
-2-3 TB Panko Bread Crumbs
-2-3 TB Flour (larger tenderloins may need a little more, mine was small)
-Meijer Sun-Dried Tomato infused oil
- Pasta and sauce

First off, you can find my homemade skinny fettuccine sauce recipe on my blog from a few days ago, found here http://greenzebra9.blogspot.com/2013/04/homemade-skinny-fettuccine-sauce-on.html

I dropped my pasta in boiling water and put asparagus and tomatoes in a skillet with butter and seasoning salt, added a little water, and put a lid over them to steam.  Then I started prepping my chicken.

Put your chicken on a cutting board and pound it thin with a meat tenderizer (I used the spiked side).  Thin chicken gets done a LOT faster.  It also makes a tiny chicken tenderloin look a lot bigger.  Salt your chicken.  I literally always forget to do that.

I started pounding out chicken a lot after my mom ordered chicken di pana at Cheesecake Factory.  It is a very thinly pounded piece of chicken which you can mimic by cutting a chicken breast in half and pounding out to make two thin pieces.  I highly suggest cutting chicken breasts in half regardless, as it is a sneaky way to make meat last longer.

When you have it thin you want to dunk it in an egg and milk mix in one bowl, and then transfer it to a mix of the panko and flour in another bowl and coat on both sides.  I used whole wheat flour this time, it really did not change the flavor.  But I was curious!

Heat a skim of oil on medium heat, you will want to turn it down later if it begins to pop.  When it is hot, drop the chicken in it and fry until golden brown, flipping minimally.

The oil gives it SUCH a tasty flavor, and you can easily rev it up more with the addition of some basil and rosemary to your flour and panko.

I made way more than I could eat, of course, so I just chopped up all my remaining things and put it in a bowl with the leftover pasta.  This will make for some tasty alfredo leftovers for tomorrow or Friday!

So to recap, frying in a flavored oil is an excellent idea and a little goes a long way, cutting chicken breasts in half or using one pounded tenderloin per person might be a good option for saving money or cutting back, and leftovers are a delicious part of life.

And Meijer had that honey oat bread in the background, which perfectly capped off my Cheesecake Factory inspired meal. 

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