Monday, December 13, 2010

Chicken tender Picatta with aonori 鶏の笹身の青のりピカタ

Whenever I use chicken breasts, I usually separate the tenders from the rest of the breast to make separate small dishes, which I have posted before. This is one such variation. I am not sure "Picatta" is the correct name for this dish especially since there is no lemon caper sauce.  The ultimate-and-always-correct  reference, Wikipedia, has two different versions for "Picatta" depending on ja.wikipedia or en.wikipedia, although both show an identical picture of the dish. It.wikipedia appears not to have an entry for "Piccata". In any case, since this dish is Izakaya-style, I call this dish "Picatta" as per the Japanese definition.

 I had three chicken tenders which were marinated in sake for several days in the refrigerator (I almost forgot I had it). I use the sake, not particularly for seasoning, but to prevent the meat from going bad (American chicken goes bad very quickly). 

I pat dry the tenders and lightly salt and pepper them. I cut each tender in half crosswise to make even numbers (6 pieces) for 2 small servings. I dredge the meat with flour (I used potato starch just because it was easier to get to than the regular flour in our pantry). 

For the egg coating; One large egg beaten, add dried aonori 青海苔, salt and pepper. I coated each piece with the egg mixture and cooked it in a non-stick frying pan with a small amount of olive oil on a medium low flame. Once the bottom cooked, I poured the remaining egg over the meat and turned it over, so that the meat pieces were completely encased. I turned the heat to low and cooked it for 5 minutes more or longer until the center of the thickest part is done.

I served this with a pan fried tomato half, seasoned with salt and pepper, and American mini-cucumber with moromi miso. I could have made a sweet and sour Chinese style sauce but I did not. 

This is a really good dish. The egg crust seals in the moisture and chicken tender comes out very tender and moist. The egg crust add a nice eggy taste with an oceanic flavor of aonori. The garnish also went very well especially the pan-fried tomato.

No comments: