Walnut Crusted Chicken & Salad

I have a most wonderful, caring and very detailed-oriented family doctor. I believe that I'm one of his most frequent flyers with all of the visits I have to see him for with my back. I know most of the nurses by name and vice versa. A couple of years ago for my yearly physical, my doctor sat me down and wanted to know all about how much I was exercising, was I getting enough sun and, subsequently, vitamin D, how was my Calcium and Iron levels, and finally, how many nuts was I eating a day? This last question took me completely by surprise. Never before had I had a doctor ask me about my nut-intake. Like I said though, he's VERY detail oriented. After he popped the 'nut' question, I had a momentary flicker of panic as I realized that I barely ate ANY nuts. That day I decided to change my foolish ways and stock up on nuts. Lots and lots of NUTS. Thank you Dr. Eveleigh for swaying me from the error of my ways :)


This recipe is another high one on the yum, yum, yum, yum, yum factor. As you can see, I've been trying out different kinds of chicken crusts lately (see peanut crusted chicken a couple of weeks ago) to try to a) use up the unbelievable amount of nuts I have in my baking cupboard and b) not let my doctor down. This recipe is pretty easy and you're baking your chicken, which is nice. The recipe calls for an 'oven proof' skillet, which, of course, we didn't have, so I just lightly fried them and then popped them on to a PAM'ed baking sheet. Bon Appétit! 


Ingredients:

- 2 slices whole-wheat bread, dried 

- 1/3 cup walnuts (toasted)

- 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, freshly grated 

- Coarse salt and ground pepper

- 1 large egg white 

- 4 chicken breast halves, boneless and skinless (6 to 8 ounces each) 

- 1 tablespoon oil 

- Lemon slices, for serving 

- Seasonal green salad
Directions: 
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a food processor, combine bread, walnuts, and Parmesan; season with salt and pepper. Process until fine breadcrumbs form. Transfer to a shallow bowl. In another shallow bowl, beat egg white until frothy.
2. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Dip each breast into egg white, letting excess drip off, and then into crumb mixture, pressing to adhere.
3. In a large nonstick ovenproof skillet heat oil over medium heat. Add chicken and cook until lightly browned, 1 to 3 minutes. Carefully turn chicken over and put skillet in oven. Bake until chicken is golden brown and cooked through, 8 to 12 minutes.
4. Serve chicken with lemon slices and green salad.


ps - apologies for the stock photo this time :(