THE RELUCTANT GOURMET COOKING COMMUNITY

[ninjabut]

This was from I-village food.
It was good , but not great.
It was a marinated and breaded chicken served with frozen green beans (can't wait to start planting!) and rice.
I can post if you want. Nancy

[jfield]

Why'd they call it "Caesar Chicken?" I was expecting some sort of Caesar salad reference. Was it good enough to try and make it great next time, or would you just try something different? Maybe if you post what you started with, we could all offer suggestions to take it from good to great!

[ninjabut]

Well, I'll post it, but it was nothing to write home about.

Prep time 60 min(?)
Cook time 20 min
Serves 4

4 chicken breast fillets
2 tblsp olive oil
2 1/2tsp lemon juice
1 tsp worcetershire sauce
1 tsp dijon mustard
3/4 tsp garlic salt (I use powder)
!/8 tsp pepper
2/3 c finely crushed seasoned croutons
1/3 c Parmesan cheese (what will they call it now that they've ruled it must be from the Parma area?)
8 romaine lettuce leaves
Lemon slices for garnish

1) In a zip lock bag, mix olive oil, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, garlic salt and pepper. Add chicken, seal bag and shake to mix and thoroughly coat chicken. Refrigerate 15 min.

2)On shallow plate, mix crushed croutons and Parmesan cheese, remove chicken from marinade. Add chicken, one piece at a time, dredge to coat

3) Place chicken on greased shallow baking pan, drizzle reserved marinade over chicken. Bake at 400* for about 20 min or til cooked.

[jfield]

Now I get the Caesar reference: the whole worcestershire/mustard/parm thing plus croutons. Kind of a clever idea, I guess, though I think they were maybe trying too hard to belabor the Caesar point. Seems like it would have been a better idea to make a really nice basic Caesar salad and then add some lovely cold diced, poached chicken to it.

Using this as a basic template recipe, maybe you could leave out the worcestershire, add in some salt and use some minced shallot or garlic as opposed to powder and let the chicken hang out in the marinade for maybe 45 minutes. Lose the breading entirely, saute the chicken then deglaze the pan with a little white wine and broth to make a nice pan sauce. Romaine leaves and lemon slices not required :)

Anyone else have any thoughts on elevating the Caesar chicken from good to great?

[Reluctant Gourmet]

I like your idea Jenni to make a great classic Caesar salad and add some poached chicken to it. I did right about this famous salad on my web site at http://www.reluctantgourmet.com/caesar.htm

If any of you have your own versions, please post them. Caesar salad is one of my favorites.

Or if anyone has a favorite commercial product they like, I would like to hear about that too.