Sometime last year Tyler Florence started using Twitter on Fridays for a mini cooking class. It was unique but sort of a pain. Following the #twitlish hashtag resulted in having to read a LOT of questions from novice cooks that quickly made following that stream difficult and yes, boring. However, I still decided to make the dish each week and post it.
Well, that got difficult too…finding just the recipe on his website wasn’t easy. His website was filled with a lot of large photos interspersed with steps that made printing the recipe difficult and I found a lot of errors; the steps on the Twitter stream would not be in accordance with the recipe or would have different ingredients so I quickly became disenfranchised and quit following the process.
Though I made several of the dishes and enjoyed them, this is one that I did not get done back then but have always wanted to try and this weekend I finally had the necessary ingredients and the time to pull it together.
I made a LOT of changes. The first run through (which I did not know would be the first run through) followed the directions from the site but as it turns out those directions did not result in a dish that looked like their own picture. Instructions requiring peeling the skin off of the cucumber, yet their photo had not and the finished dish looked less appealing.
In that first attempt, I followed the directions for the salad part as specified and it was a mistake. Mixing the greens with the dressing saw the spinach get limp quickly and I didn’t like how the soy sauce in the marinade that was also used in the dressing made the cucumber brownish. Add to that the fact that as much as I like cilantro, the quantities cited were overpowering. So, I mixed up some ingredients and some steps and luckily had a leftover piece of chicken that allowed me to not only try it again but take a new photo (that limp green spinach I mentioned…not very photogenic!).
I was lucky to have that second chance. Although I would have enjoyed the final result even more when the chicken was fresh and really crisp, I had made a point of under-cooking a couple of pieces when I first prepared the chicken. On my second attempt I was able to put a piece in the oven to not only to finish cooking the inside but it also crisped up the coating which was a huge plus. Although I did prefer the chicken that first night; the improvement in the greens and presentation the second night were huge so now I’m anxious to try it again and combine the best of both worlds! I loved the combination of panko and sesame seeds for the crust and the greens and light dressing were perfect with a lemon based risotto I served on the side.
Crispy Sesame Chicken Salad
Ingredients
Vinaigrette
- 1/8 cup soy sauce plus 1 Tbsp for vinaigrette, divided
- Juice of half a lemon
- 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1-inch knob fresh ginger, peeled and chopped (I substituted 2 tsp dry ginger)
- 1 tsp sugar
- 4 Tbsp chopped cilantro leaves
Chicken and salad
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1.5 lb)
- 1 ½ cups panko breadcrumbs
- ¼ cup toasted sesame seeds
- 2 eggs
- 4-5 Tbsp water
- 1/2 cup flour
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- A couple good handfuls of stemmed spinach leaves (about 4 cups)
- 1 cucumber cut into think rounds
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds toasted in a dry skillet over low heat for garnish
- Cracked black pepper
Preparation
- In a bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, vinegar, olive oil, ginger, and sugar; separate into equal portions and add 1/8 cup of soy sauce to one portion for a marinade and a Tablespoon of soy sauce to the 2nd portion for the salad vinaigrette (set aside).
- Rinse the chicken and pat dry with paper towels. Put it in another bowl large enough to hold it, pour over with the marinade making sure to coat all pieces.
- Cover and let the chicken rest in the fridge for about 2 hours if you have the time, or until you’ve got the rest of the dish ready to go.
- When you’re ready to cook, put the panko and sesame seeds in a shallow platter and season with a little salt and pepper. Mix with your fingers so that the seasoning is incorporated. Taste the panko and adjust the seasoning if necessary.
- Beat the egg with the water in a shallow dish.
- Put the flour into another shallow dish.
- Remove the chicken from the marinade and roll it in the flour. Dip it in the egg mixture and then coat it with the seasoned panko crumb mixture.
- Heat 1/3 cup olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
- Line a platter with paper towels and set that to the side of the stove. Add about half of the chicken pieces to the pan and cook 2 to 3 minutes on each side until golden brown and crispy. Remove the chicken to the platter to drain.
NOTE: I had some really thick chicken breasts and this would not have been enough time…either pound your chicken to achieve a fillet that is approximately 1/2 inch thick or cook at a lower temp so that you can keep a larger breast in the skillet for closer to 8 minutes. - Do the same to cook the rest of the chicken.
- To serve, put some of the greens on a plate, top with a chicken breast and put additional greens on top.
- Drizzle the chicken with the vinaigrette made to dress the greens. Sprinkle with more toasted sesame seeds and cracked black pepper.
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Damn newbies LOL This looks really great! Bookmarked ;-)
You’re so good with food presentation Barb! I do appreciate the lengthy description of making sure it’s to your liking! Sometimes recipes just don’t work out like you think they will. I love oriental salads and will give this a try.
Thanks so much Lea Ann; this one was certainly a journey and so often, I don’t have leftovers for a do-over so it was prophetic it turned out the way it did; or there would have been no post at all!
Thank you for taking the time to share the details of your trials in preparing the chicken recipe. Sometimes we take for granted that a recipe will just “work” when it really needs some serious tweaking! Your end results look great and sound delicious too!
You’re welcome…and in truth I think it was something of a testimony that even a known entity can still make glaring mistakes! Best to always put our own spin on something; after all, I’m the one serving it, right?
This looks so delicious! Love that chicken…would love a plate of this for lunch today!