Chicken Paillard and Arugula Salad

  

This is possibly our favorite way to eat chicken. I saw Tyler Florence make this one day on Tyler's Ultimate and I had to create it myself. We fell in love. With the salad, I mean. I do love his food style, though. It's very bistro, in an accessible, and comforting way. If I had a restaurant, I would cook this kind of food. Let me draw your attention to the greens. This is the most perfect example of arugula I have ever seen.  That's arugula in that bowl, not baby spinach (although you could substitute one for the other, but try arugula first, it's an incredible flavor).

We were in Hudson the other day and I had to go to Heinen's market to browse the produce section. It makes me happy. I go there just to see the baby bok choy. If you live in or near Hudson, I'm very jealous of you. But anyway, I saw the arugula and knew I was going to make this salad with it. Its delicious and can be made on a weeknight. I know this because I made it Thursday night after I got home from work. 

 

The prep work for this dish is minimal. Just pound out the chicken breasts, blend up the dressing ingredients, set up a breading station and cut up the tomatoes (from your garden, if you're lucky) and little balls of mozzarella. That's it. I love the dressing for this salad. It's like a Caesar dressing, but lighter, somehow. It's very fresh and pops with lemon juice, but it has anchovy, which simply gives it some earthy depth. It makes the dressing interesting. Everyone likes their salad dressing to be interesting, don't they?

 

So now you are rewarded with a dinner you can be proud of. Just one little suggestion: you should really eat these together. If you are the kind of person who eats everything separately (like my dad), you should know that these two things on this plate were made to go together. Tender and peppery greens, juicy tomatoes, creamy mozzarella and a crunchy poultry crouton of goodness. It's about complementary components. It's about balance. It's about texture. It's about flavor. And I am all about this salad.

 

Chicken Paillard with Creamy Parmesan Salad

from Tyler's Ultimate

Serves 4

Chicken:

4 skinless boneless chicken breasts

1 c. flour

4 eggs, beaten with a splash of milk

2 c. panko

2 T. olive oil

Dressing:

2 anchovy fillets

2 egg yolks

2 cloves garlic, smashed

2 lemons, juiced

1/2 c. olive oil

1/4 c. grated Parmesan

Salad:

1 c. grape tomatoes, halved

1 bag baby arugula

1/2 lb. bocconcini, halved

shaved Parmesan

Lemon wedges

Pound chicken between sheets of plastic wrap until very thin. Place flour, eggs and panko in separate bowls and season with salt and pepper. Season chicken, dip in flour, eggs and panko. Lay on a baking sheet and chill 10 minutes. Fry chicken in oil 2-3 minutes per side. Drain and sprinkle with salt. For dressing: Place anchovies, yolks, garlic, lemon juice and some ( 1-2 teaspoons, I'm guessing) water in a blender and process 30 seconds,  until smooth. With blender running, add oil in a steady stream. Stir in cheese, season with salt and pepper to taste; set aside. Prepare salad: Mix ingredients together and place on top of chicken. Garnish with shaved cheese and lemon wedges.