RECIPE: Chicken schnitty and chips

These are the original form of a chip – the pointy chunks would be chipped from each potato with a little knife. But more importantly, the shape of these chips allows for tangy chewy down one end and crispy delicious down another.

Serves 4  

Ingredients

6 chicken thigh fillets

½ cup (75g) plain (all-purpose) flour

1½ teaspoons onion powder

1 tablespoon chicken stock powder

3 eggs

2½ cups (150g) panko breadcrumbs

1 tablespoon dried rosemary

1 kg potatoes, peeled and cut into rough 5 cm (2 inch) angular chunks, resembling shards

1 cup (250ml) chicken stock

½ cup (125ml) white wine

Juice of 1 lemon

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

Sea salt

Rice bran oil, for shallow-frying

1 baby cos lettuce, cut into wedges and washed

Vinai-no-regrette, (from my cookbook) for dressing

Optional ingredients

Sauerkraut, aioli and lemon wedges

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F).

2. Place each chicken thigh between two pieces of baking paper and smack it out firmly to 1.5cm (½ inch) thick. Don’t be too rough or you end up with sections breaking up. A thigh schnitzel does result in a wonderfully misshaped crown affair – all the more spots for the crumb.

3. Combine the flour, onion powder and stock powder in one bowl.

4. Crack the eggs into another bowl and lightly beat.

5. Mix together the panko crumbs and dried rosemary in a third bowl.

6. Line a baking tray for the finished schnitz.

7. Dust the chicken pieces in flour, drench in egg and press into the crumbs, then place on the tray. Repeat this until your fingers are bulbous with crumb – E.T. fingers are a suitable gauge. Rinse and continue until finished. (Or use skewers to avoid this situation.)

8. Set aside until ready to fry. Toss the potato shards in the stock, wine, lemon juice, paprika and salt to taste, then tip into a roasting tin and spread them out. Roast for 40 minutes, flipping halfway through.

9. Heat about 5mm (¼ inch) of rice bran oil in a non-stick frying pan
over medium heat and cook the schnitzels for about 3 minutes each side. You want them golden and cooked through. It’s best to fry in batches to achieve this.

10. The salad has basically made itself: leaves + dressing. Eat with the schnitties and shards. 

Recipe extracts from Every Night Of The Week by Lucy Tweed. Published by Murdoch Books, RRP$40.