Hello, chefs.
The first thing I ever “cooked” was a tuna boat for my mom to take to work for lunch. I had gotten a kids cookbook for some holiday and it was the first recipe inside that we had all the ingredients for. Naturally, I was completely uninterested in consuming the tuna myself, so my mom took one for the team. Two weeks later, I was asking my grandma to go to the print shop to bind the cookbook I’d written, which I’m pretty sure was just recipes copied from said children’s cookbook along with a cookie recipe that included Reeses Puffs.
So yeah, I’ve always been an over-confident chef.
One thing that made me feel like a real cook, though, was cooking raw meat for the first time. Of course it was a chicken breast. And of course (I’m making a safe assumption here) it was either rubbery or totally undercooked. Either way, I felt more powerful than the leader of the free world.
Of course, that was short lived. I’m assuming many of us overdid the chicken breast at one point or another in our lives and had to take a sabbatical. Mine lasted about a decade. I just couldn’t bear the thought of making a dry, colorless slab of protein when I could have a crispy, golden chicken thigh or a whole roasted bird. I had made it out of the fat-free, boneless/skinless “lite cooking” era of the early aughts alive and damnit, I wanted to live.
Save for a brief stint as a pescatarian after Meggie Smith’s botched euthanasia (a story for another time), live I did. But a few weeks ago, I dreamt of a chicken cutlet on my salad, and here we are.
If you, too, swore of chicken breasts years ago, but find yourself reminiscing about those simple days when you could make any meal a protein-rich one, hear me out. A chicken cutlet—thin-sliced, well-seasoned, less inclined to turn to rubber before your very eyes—might just change your life.
-Faith
Just a really good chicken cutlet
I dunno, guys, it just works.
Slice your chicken breasts in half so you have two thinner chicken cutlets.
Yes, I’m sick of the word “cutlet,” too.
Sprinkle all sides generously with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high.
Add your cutlets and cook until they are white up the sides and rounding up into the top (which is, of course, still raw). Flip and cook on the other side until nicely browned and, most importantly, cooked through.
Something to put it on: scrunched cabbage salad
I’ve been thinking about this one at least once a day since I made it. It’s from Cybelle Tondu, whose instructions are much easier to follow than mine.
Cut 1/2 head of cabbage into bite-sized pieces. Toss them in a large bowl with a teaspoon of salt until it gets a bit wet, then start to squeeze the leaves with your hands until super tender. This will take about 3 minutes total. Drain any liquid.
To the cabbage, add whichever of these ingredients you have on hand and toss:
sliced scallions
fresh dill
the juice of 1 lemon
a spoonful of minced garlic
a small spoonful of sugar
a generous drizzle of olive oil
Make a crispy topping:
Heat a tablespoon of olive oil over medium
Add a handful of chopped raw almonds and a generous sprinkle of sesame seeds
Toast until golden
Plate it up, top with your almonds and chicken
Something else to put it on: butternut pasta with breadcrumbs
This is a tuned-down version of Kay Chun’s: a bit easier, fewer steps, but just as tasty. Put a chicken cutlet on it!
Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.
While your water boils, drizzle some oil in a skillet over medium and add a chopped shallot. Cook until softened, then add 2 spoonfuls of minced garlic and 2 tablespoons of butter. Set aside.
Add 4 cups of cubed butternut squash (I had like a half gallon bag full in my freezer) to your boiling water, and let cook for 5 minutes. Add a pound of pasta (rotini is good for this one) and boil for another 8 minutes. Save 2 cups of pasta water.*
Strain your pasta and butternut, return to the pot, and cook over medium. Add 1.5 cups of the pasta water and your shallot mixture. Stir while cooking for a few minutes until the squash starts to break down a bit. Turn off the heat and stir in the juice of 1/2 lemon, a sprinkle of red pepper flakes, and a good sprinkle of parm.
Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a small skillet until it browns a bit. Add 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs, plus some salt and pepper, and toast for a few minutes until golden. Top your pasta with the breadcrumbs, some more cheese, and yes, your chicken cutlet.
*I’ve been asked to explain what pasta water does and if it’s really necessary when called for (the answer is yes, probably). Pasta water has lots of warm, salty starches in it, which make your sauce feel like 50% more delicious. The starch helps the sauce bind to itself (so you don’t have separated oil and tomato juice, for example), cling to the pasta, and gives it that glossy look. My trick for remembering it: put a measuring cup in your colander when you’re getting out all of your cooking materials.