Parmesan Crusted Chicken with Pasta Salad
Summer Comfort Food At Its Best!
Jump to RecipeAll families need favourite but easily made meals for every season. Parmesan Crusted Chicken with Pasta Salad is that meal for us at the moment. It is quite effortless to pull together yet ticks all the flavour and texture boxes. Why get take away when you can serve up this?
Parmesan Crusted Chicken with Pasta Salad May Be Your Next Go To
I love that the chicken looks like chicken schnitzel (almost) but is not as messy or time consuming to make. In a way, I think I prefer it to schnitzel now. It is easier and it is lighter which is nice and great for warmer weather when we tend not to eat rich meals. The parmesan crust is dead easy to make and delicious flavoured with smoked paprika. It is really important to use very fine parmesan or grana padano to get the even crust. The shallow frying makes the perfect crust. It is my favourite way to cook chicken breast right now. I served the chicken with some creamy aioli with just the right amount of garlic to make it have the perfect bite.
Effortless Meal Prep
I made the pasta salad for this meal the night before so we could take it for lunch the next day. I actually made it while making the previous night’s dinner and it didn’t take long to put together. The beauty of pasta salad is that you can throw in whatever ingredients you like. Here I used some Danish salami – try a hotter one if you prefer – some milk cherry bocconcini, basil leaves, cherry tomatoes and mayonnaise mixed with lemon juice. To that you could add sun dried tomatoes or roasted vegetables like capsicum, zucchini or eggplant. It is a blank canvas really.
We had heaps of pasta salad left over after this meal and that was after four of us also had it for lunch. It really goes a long way so it is worth making during the week to make meals later in the week easier.
Parmesan Crusted Chicken with Pasta Salad is a great meal to end the week on. It has comforting flavours and textures and half of it can be made in advance so all you have to do is coat the chicken and pan fry it.
This week I am asking you to rate this meal out of 10. Please drop your rating in the comments box so I can see how it ranks. TIA!
Delicately flavoured, light but comforting enough to replace that take away meal!
Parmesan Crusted Chicken with Pasta Salad
Delicately flavoured, light but comforting. Why get take out?
Ingredients
Pamesan Crusted Chicken
- 6 chicken breasts
- 1/2 cup plain flour
- 1/2 cup parmesan or grana padano finely grated
- 1 tbsp smoked paprika
Pasta Salad
- 500 g pasta spirals, penne, shells or bows
- 200 g salami of your choice cut in short batons
- 250 g cherry tomatoes halved
- 250 g milk cherry bocconcini sliced
- 1.2 cup basil leaves loosely packed and cut in strips
- 4 tbsp whole egg mayonnaise
- 1/2 lemon juiced
Aioli
- 1/2 cup whole egg mayonnaise
- 1 clove (lge) garlic minced
Instructions
For the Pasta Salad
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Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions. Allow to cool. Combine with other ingredients or those of your choice in a large bowl. Mix well. Chill until cold.
Parmesan Crusted Chicken
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Slice each chicken breast in half, horizontally into thinner steaks. Combine flour, cheese and smoked paprika on a plate. Coat each chicken breast with flour mixture. Then on a high heat shallow fry chicken in oil covers a large frying pan or electric fry pan up to about 1/2 cm in depth. Chicken should be a deep golden brown and firm when cooked. Cook in batches and keep cooked chicken warm in an oven heated to 150°C.
Aioli
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The easiest step – simply mix mayonnaise with the garlic in a small serving bowl.
Recipe Notes
A note about the mayonnaise. This is a quick and easy meal but be prepared to used a good quality mayonnaise. If you have time and are inclined you could make the aioli from scratch.
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