A note about this recipe- I don't have a formal recipe so I do everything by sight. But of course you need specifics in a recipe so I'm going to estimate as much as I can, and you can adjust for your taste:
makes 3 servings:
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 1/4 tsp sesame seeds
1.5 tbs chopped fresh or dried oregano
1/8 TSP pepper, or to taste
salt to taste
1 egg, beaten
lemon wedges
mix the parmesan, sesame seeds, oregano. salt and pepper in a bowl. Dip the chicken breasts in the egg, coating both sides well, and drain any excess back into the egg bowl. Dredge breasts in the dry mix, till both sides are coated evenly. Line a baking sheet with foil and bake at 370 for 20 minutes, flipping once, or alternately you can pan fry with a little olive oil, cooking each side for 5 minutes each. Garnish with lemon wedges.
That's it! Simple with a lot of flavor. And it keeps well for leftovers the next day.
I like to serve this dish with a roasted tomato topping, which you can find in the bulk section of Whole Foods- just roasted tomatoes, herbs, and oil. Yum! My plate in the below picture is a bit bare.. adding a side of sauteed spinach or another veggie is always a great option, but I did not do so tonight.
A great alternative to this recipe is to add italian bread crumbs to the dry mix, and instead of an egg wash, use dijon mustard. A nice spicy twist! Of course, to truly make this Au Naturale-worthy, I would make both my own mustard and bread crumbs... those recipes to come soon...
Some notes on ingredients as they relate to the overall Au Naturale goal:
- I currently get my chicken breasts from Whole Foods, who in turn get theirs (in Illinois, at least) from Pine Manor Farms. After doing some research I learned that it's an Indiana farm, so it's nice that it's (moderately) local, and they claim that their chickens are raised on nearby amish farms with a vegetarian diet and no hormones and byproducts. Isn't it illegal now to shoot up animals with hormones, anyway? Anyway, if that's the case (the Amish part, at least) then I'm willing to trust that they raise and feed their chickens well. Thanks to Food Inc I've learned that "free-range" can be a misleading term in how much sunlight, fresh air, and space the chickens actually have to roam, so I'm not 100% completely sold on this farm. I fully admit I need to learn more about the best way to detect a well-raised chicken. But I would love to find an even smaller, more local farm from which to get my poultry. I'll let you know when I find it.
- I also often used pre-grated parmesan from Whole Foods. Today, I changed it up a bit and got a block of parmesan reggiano and grated it myself. The result was a light, fluffy parmesan mix that made me feel better because freshly grated anything is generally more delicious, and in a bigger sense I feel better that it went through one less process in a factory to get to my table. And I can snack on the block later.
-If you have the ability to grow herbs indoors, do it! I used fresh oregano from a plant I start in the summer and bring indoors once the season gets cooler. I don't get as great direct light indoors as I do on my back deck, but my oregano always thrives. And then I don't have to spend a ton of money for packaged herbs at the store that will grow brown after just a few days.
An additional great fast food appetizer is a good old fashioned caprese salad. Here I've mixed organic grape tomatoes, sliced lengthwise, mozzarella cheese (cigliene style), and fresh basil from my own basil plant (again, a must if you have the space and sunlight!). I then dress it with a touch of salt and pepper and finish it off with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and homemade red wine vinegar (from an Italian friend of my parents- we get a vat of it from him yearly and it is just amazing!) Balsamic or white wine vinegar works well too as alternates. And look how colorful it is!
By the way, these are both exceptional recipes if you are the type who likes low-carb food, too.
On a general status note, though, I did pretty well today adhering to the new diet. Eggs for breakfast, a delish roasted tofu sandwich from Hannah's Bretzel for lunch, and organic roasted almonds as a snack. I did cheat a bit towards 5pm when I was just ravished and had nothing around me... except jelly bellies. For that reason, I picked up some raw-food style macaroons at Whole Foods tonight. I'll give a report on those tomorrow.
A note on Hannah's Bretzel... what a fantastic find! This is an all-organic, all-natural fast food restaurant that I stumbled upon in the Illinois Center on my way back from the gym one day. Their food, which includes both breakfast food, lunch salads and sandwiches- with both vegan and vegetarian options-, and an amazing assortment of chocolates and desserts, is organic wherever humanly possible and sourced from local growers and producers. The small storefront itself is LEED certified, and all of their packaging materials are environmentally-friendly. They have a second location on W. Washington. Check out everything about them, including a full menu and calorie count (if you're in to that sort of thing), at www.hannahsbretzel.com.
P.S. While cooking and typing all this tonight, the local news broadcast announced yet another food recall. I didn't hear for what. But once again I'm glad I'm going down this path.
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