Crispy pecorino encrusted chicken breast fillets.

Crisply coated chicken breasts, moist and tasty inside.

This recipe is so quick and easy and super tasty with my 'go to' crispy coating of polenta and pecorino.  You can tailor the crust with different herbs or cheese to suit your mood and accompaniments or stick to plain polenta.  Today we had this with pecorino cheese polenta crust and served with French fries and a simple salad and a cheeky blob of lemon or garlic mayonnaise and a wedge of lemon for drizzling.  A perfect summer's day lunch. 

An alternative serving suggestion is to cover the cooked polenta chicken with a home made tomato sauce and a thick slice of Cheddar or other hard cheese then return to the oven until the cheese melts.  

I don't deep fry my chicken totally, I shallow fry to crisp the coating then cook the fillets in the oven, slightly more healthy I feel, but with equally tasty results.

A similar polenta encrusted chicken recipe we love can be found here Oven Baked Polenta Crust Chicken

Ingredients:

• 1 chicken breast (or boneless thigh) fillet per person.
• Optional additions:  A small handful of finely grated parmesan, pecorino or other strong dry cheese, finely chopped herbs of choice, thyme is lovely as is oregano
• 1 tablespoon of plain flour seasoned and set aside.
• 2 eggs per 2 servings, beaten and set aside
• Roughly 200gm fine polenta with herbs or cheese added set beside the egg and flour
• 1 mug of sunflower, vegetable or other tasteless oil
• S&P

Method:

Pre-heat your oven to 200 degrees C or equivalent with a flat baking tray in to receive the chicken.

Firstly I always place my chicken between two sheets of greaseproof paper or cling wrap and set to with a rolling pin to flatten the thickest part out to roughly the same thickness as the thinnest end.  You don't have to make it a true escallop thickness, unless that's what you want of course.  This ensures even cooking.

Now assemble your crispy coating line up as follows, flour, egg, flavoured polenta.

Coat your chicken in the flour,  pressing down well, then immediately into the egg and then toss it around in the polenta and press down to coat.  Repeat this procedure once more to make a truly thick and crispy crust.

Heat your oil to the point that it will fry a cube of bread to crisp and brown within one minute.  Now carefully place your chicken in and leave it to fry for around one minute on each side basting gently up the sides until golden.

Now place your pre-fried chicken into the baking sheet in the oven and let it cook for around 25-30 minutes until the chicken is properly cooked and the juices are clear (top tip to ensure the bottom of the fillet isn't soggy when cooked, place a wire rack over the roasting pan and put the chicken on top).

Serve immediately and enjoy!