Crispy Chicken Cutlets with Tomato Panzanella

Where to begin?  As you can tell life has been chaotic with very little time to cook new recipes and post about them.  I knew August and September would be my busiest months too with weddings, camping, work travel, and fun travel.  My last blog I was talking about going to a wedding in Silver Falls and it was beautiful and so much fun.  Next came my all girls camping trip up to Clear Lake on Mt. Hood.  Much to my surprise it has been so dry in Oregon that the lake I went swimming in two months prior was almost all dried up!  It was unreal and felt apocalyptic, there was only a little bit of a lake left which you can see in the picture below.  Even with no lake we still had a blast, lots of exploring and an amazing dance party.  Tomorrow I leave for my work trip to Florida for 6 days and there is now a hurricane headed directly to Orlando so I'm sure it will be a very interesting week.  I also get to see one of my best friends because she is driving up to visit me in Orlando for two nights which will be so so fun! I'm sure I will come back with a lot of stories and perhaps I really will get to experience my first hurricane.  Onto the food, I adapted this recipe from Bon Appetit and holy crap is it good.  I used tomatoes from my garden and was in heaven; this is my first year growing Marianna's Peace (heirloom tomatoes) and they have the best flavor ever!  Also pictured below is the vinegar I used instead of plain white wine vinegar.

Serves 4

The Ingredients
¼ small red onion, thinly sliced (I used a mandolin)
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar (I used a French herb infused one), divided
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 tablespoons avocado oil, divided
1 cup torn country-style bread, (from about ¼ small loaf)
2 skin-on, bone-in chicken breasts (or chicken thighs)
1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes (half of them sliced in half, and the other half full)
2 small red heirloom tomatoes sliced
Pinch of sugar
¾ cup parsley leaves with tender stems


The Process
1.  Combine onion and 2 Tbsp. vinegar in a small bowl. Season with salt and pepper; set aside.

2.  Heat 2 Tbsp. avocado in a large skillet over medium-high. Add bread; season with salt and pepper. Cook, tossing, until golden brown, 5–8 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl. Wipe out skillet.

3.  Using a thin, sharp knife, cut bones and cartilage from chicken breasts. Pound chicken between 2 sheets of plastic wrap to ¼" thick; season with salt and pepper.

4.  Heat 1 Tbsp. avocado oil in skillet over medium-high. Cook 1 chicken breast, skin side down, until golden brown and nearly cooked through, about 4 minutes. Turn and cook until cooked through, about 1 minute more; second side will not brown. Transfer to a platter. Repeat with remaining cutlet and 1 Tbsp. avocado oil (no need to wipe out skillet).

5.  Heat 2 Tbsp. avocado oil in same skillet over medium-high. Add whole tomatoes; season with salt and pepper. Cook, tossing occasionally, until lightly blistered and starting to burst, about 5 minutes. Toss in sugar and remaining 1 Tbsp. vinegar. Transfer to bowl with croutons. Add pickled onion with pickling liquid, all the cut tomatoes, parsley, and remaining 2 Tbsp. avocado oil and toss. Serve chicken with panzanella spooned over.