Two From *Nigella Lawson: CRUNCHY CHICKEN CUTLETS/ SEARED MUSTARD-COATED SALMON 🌞

CRUNCHY CHICKEN CUTLETS

Chicken cutlets are what Americans call – give or take – what we’d
describe as escalopes, but such is my alliteration addiction, I had to go for
this nomenclature. I could have called them Cornflake-Crunchy Chicken
Cutlets as the crisp coating is provided not by breadcrumbs, but by
cornflakes. This is particularly handy if you want a gluten-free crunch,
though do check the cornflake packet to be sure. In theory, cornflakes
should by their very nature be gluten-free but, because of crosscontamination
issues in factories, that isn’t always the case. If this isn’t an
issue, then use any cornflakes you like.

You can buy chicken escalopes already beaten, but otherwise just buy a
couple of chicken breasts and, one at a time, place them on a chopping
board lined with clingfilm, cover the chicken with another layer of
clingfilm and bash the living daylights out of them with a rolling pin. This
is a gratifying way to de-stress at the end of a long day.

Once flattened, each breast provides a generously portioned escalope (you
could use just one chicken breast and halve it across before bashing) but I
like the expansiveness of a plateful of crunchy cutlet, and all I’d suggest
you’d eat alongside is a handful of rocket, dotted with some halved cherry
tomatoes, dressed simply. That’s to say, I sprinkle a few sea salt flakes over
the salad-lined plates, then squeeze some lemon juice on top, followed by a
glug of excellent olive oil.

SERVES 2

2 chicken escalopes or breast fillets (200–300g total),
(7-10.5oz) preferably organic
¼ cup (70g) Dijon mustard
1 clove garlic, peeled and finely grated or minced
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 egg
3 cups (75g) cornflakes
1½ teaspoons pimentón picante or paprika2 × 15ml tablespoons sunflower oil
cherry tomatoes and rocket or salad leaves of your choice, to serve
1 lemon, cut into wedges

Take the chicken out of the fridge so that it isn’t too cold by the time
you get frying. If you are using filleted chicken breasts, rather than
escalopes, then proceed as described in the Intro.

Get out a shallow dish that, preferably, you can get both escalopes in,
and spoon in the mustard and the garlic. Add the cinnamon and egg
and whisk to combine. Put the escalopes in, turn them, and leave to sit
in the mixture while you prepare the “crumbs”.

Put the cornflakes into a bowl and crush them by hand. This, sadly, is
not as brutal as it sounds: merely break them up with your fingers to
get coarsely crushed flakes, but not dust. Add the pimentón or paprika
and use a fork to mix in.

Dredge the egg-and-mustard-soaked escalopes, one by one, in the
cornflake crumbs, so that they are well covered, and then transfer to a
wire rack for 5–10 minutes so they can dry out.

Heat the oil in a cast-iron pan or heavy-based frying pan in which the
chicken pieces will fit neatly and, when hot, fry for 3 minutes on the
first side, then turn them over carefully and give them another 3
minutes, by which time the chicken should be cooked through in the
middle, though do check. Remove to waiting plates, already strewn
with tomatoes and rocket or salad leaves of your choice.

From "Simply Nigella"
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25937378-simply-nigella

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SEARED MUSTARD-COATED SALMON

This is an incredibly easy, incredibly quick main course to go with beetroot
salad and Hasselback potatoes. There is nothing intrinsically Scandinavian
about it, but the flavours of this soft-fleshed fish dredged in sweet mustard
are certainly borrowed from the Swedish palate. The sweet heat evokes the
almost honeyed vinegariness of certain herring marinades, or that sauce
which goes with gravad-lax, but this way sharpens it, gives it a modern, less
cloying edge. The sugar in which the salmon pieces are dredged helps an
almost caramelly crust to form, but the acrid heat of the mustard powder
undercuts any sweetness.

All I ask is that you don’t dredge the fish until the absolute moment you
want to cook it, otherwise the coating will make it claggy rather than crusty.

6 x 200g ( 6 x 7oz = 2lb 10oz) skinless salmon fillets
1–2 tablespoons olive oil
2 scant tablespoons caster sugar
2 heaped tablespoons English mustard powder

Put a frying pan on the heat with a tablespoonful of oil in it. I’ve specified
olive oil, but don’t use the good – extra virgin – stuff here; at this heat, it
would be a complete waste.

Mix half the sugar and half the mustard powder on a plate and dunk in
half of the fish fillets, first one side and then the other. Cook them on a
medium to high heat – you want to hear the pan sizzle – for about 3 minutes
a side.

Remove to a warmed plate and do an action replay with the remaining
the oil, fish, sugar and mustard powder. The salmon should be a burnished
brown without, juicily coral within. Remember, too, that the fish will
continue to cook as it waits for a few minutes on the plate before anyone
starts to eat it.

Serves 6.

From "Forever Summer"
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39543.Forever_Summer


I'll be posting more of her work in the future.

*Nigella Lawson
https://www.nigella.com/



https://www.foodnetwork.com/profiles/talent/nigella-lawson/bio

https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/nigella-lawson-makes-move-away-35922671