I love food. I love food and when Dr. Terry Wahls tells me that I may be able to reduce or “cure” the symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) that I have if I change my eating habits I confess, I wasn’t happy. However, the more I researched and the more people I talked to about going Paleo I realized that eating Paleo does not mean I have to be deprived! I’ve been brainwashed to believe that food has to be loaded with garbage in order to be amazing.
I recently tried my hand at making my own almond flour because it’s so bloody expensive in the stores. It was actually very easy and I look forward to making it for whatever I need, again, in the future. While I was working with the processing of almond flour I realized that it might make a good replacement for Panko bread crumbs and tonight I was inspired to make a great big, fat chicken breast in a panko inspired manner. I looked for panko recipes on line and came across a Dijon Chicken With Panko Crust recipe (posted below) which I attempted to make.
The recipe for Paleo Panko Dijon Chicken as I made it:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2 free range chicken breasts
1/4 cup Kerry Gold Butter
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
3 large garlic cloves minced or crushed
1/2 cup almond meal
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese (I realize that dairy isn’t always Paleo so just leave it out if your orthodox)
1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
1. In a large bowl, whisk together butter, mustard, and garlic. In another bowl, mix panko, parmesan, and parsley.
2. One at a time, turn chicken breast halves in butter mixture to coat completely. Dip rounded side of each breast in panko mixture. Place breasts crumb side up in a 10- by 15-inch baking pan.
3. Bake chicken in a 400° oven until crumbs are golden and breasts are no longer pink in center of thickest part (cut to test), about 20 minutes. Check to see if ready and add 5 minutes at a time until fully cooked. Place 1 or 2 breast halves on each dinner plate.
I initially followed the original recipe’s instructions to cook at 500, however, after 20 minutes the chicken was under cooked and the breadcrumbs were starting to burn. I’m opting for lower temps at longer cook times.
The results? DELICIOUS! I must say that the 2 tablespoons of parmesan cheese really makes it buuuuuut if you don’t do cheese, you’ll miss out. It’s amazingly tender and juicy and, again, DELICIOUS! I scraped up every juicy yet crunchy bit of the breading with each bite, as well. Perhaps some sauteed asparagus or steamed broccoli to accompany your Paleo Panko Dijon Chicken with a nice warm cup of tea and some Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies and frozen blueberries later.
Enjoy!
By the way, the original recipe says it makes 8 chicken breasts but I have no idea how that’s possible when for a large breast I barely had enough of the “flour” mixture which is why I say that it makes only 2 breasts.
Original Recipe: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/dijon-chicken-with-panko-crust-10000000633466/
Making My Own Flour Blog: https://food4medicine.wordpress.com/2012/02/05/paleo-chocolate-chip-cookie-experience/