This is an absolute dinner hit, and can be eaten cold for lunch the next day too. The amount you make will depend if you’re cooking for adults too.

Ingredients

  • 2 – 4 chicken breasts or turkey
  • fine white flour (around 4 tablespoons or so)
  • very fine dried breadcrumbs (if you buy them and they aren’t fine enough, give them a whizz in the food processor – they really should be like cornmeal)
  • teaspoon of mixed herbs
  • teaspoon of red paprika
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 egg
  • milk
  • oil for frying (preferably rape seed oil, which gives a lovely, slightly nutty flavour, a beautiful golden colour, and is good for you too!)

Method

  1. Cut each chicken breast in half (do the same with the turkey) and then, using a meat hammer, bash the hell out of it until it is really thin – half a cm. is ideal. Obviously, each schnitzel will get bigger as you bash it, so you may need to cut them in half again (you want to be able to fit them into a frying pan)
  2. Prepare the coatings: put the flour in a dish, then the egg mixed with a little milk, then the breadcrumbs mixed with the herbs, paprika and pepper
  3. Take a piece of the flattened chicken, coat it with flour, then dip in the egg mixture, and finally in the breadcrumbs, making sure both sides are nice and evenly covered.
  4. While you’re doing all of them, heat enough oil to generously cover the bottom of a heavy frying pan. It should be quite hot, but not smoking!
  5. Fry the schnitzels, a couple at a time (depending how many fit into the frying pan, obviously). They will need a few minutes on each side. Watch that they don’t burn (if necessary, turn the heat down). They should be a gorgeous golden colour.
  6. Put them on kitchen roll to soak up any excess oil.
  7. I keep them them in a warm oven (50°) until I’ve done the lot.

I usually cut up the schnitzel for ds into handy sized portions, around the size of a typical chicken nugget.
These taste excellent cold the next day, for lunch.