Julie and Julia for Food n Flix

It is the 5th Anniversary of Food n Flix, a fun little group to which I have belonged for the past year and a half. To celebrate, our leader Heather of Girlichef, asked us to pick any movie from the past 5 years to watch for inspiration.  Why don't you take a look at her invitation post and join us this
month?

In November of 2012, way before I ever dreamed of blogging, the Food n Flix choice was Julie and Julia.  For Christmas that year, Tingting had bought me the film and Julia's Cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking.  I was very excited, watched the movie, read the cookbook as if it were a novel and then both were put away and forgotten.  Until, that is, I read the list of past movies from which I could choose.  Perfect!!

If you haven't yet watched this movie, please do yourself a favor and pick up a copy.  Pour a glass of wine, sit back and enjoy the story of Julie, a young wife who finds herself living in an apartment she hates in an area she doesn't like, working in a job that is constantly feeding her tendency to depression and finding solace in the kitchen.  Julie is a very type A personality who craves structure and needs deadlines.  Her husband encourages her to start a cooking blog and she decides to spend one year going through all the recipes in her hero,  Julia Child's, famous cookbook.  What starts off as a way to release pent up frustration and escape from her life soon becomes all consuming.  Those of us that are foodie bloggers can really relate to this movie. I LOVE it!!

So, naturally, I decided to create a dish from Julia's Cookbook.  I had scheduled Chicken Saltimbocca, for dinner Wednesday night, on my Weekly Menu, so I knew I wanted to make something with the Chicken Breasts that I had.  I found this great recipe for Chicken Breasts Rolled in Parmesan and Fresh Bread Crumbs that would go along wonderfully with the Spinach Papardelle that I had planned to serve as a side dish tonight.  Julia's recipe called for clarified butter so I am sharing that recipe as well.  Bon Appetit!!

Let's start with the clarified butter.  For this meal I used 2 sticks of organic unsalted butter.  Cut butter into pieces.  Place in a saucepan over med high heat.  Allow to melt without coming to a boil.  The butter will leave a foam on top. Remove the foam and discard.

With half of the foam removed.

When all of the foam is removed you will see the solids on the bottom of the pan.

Pour the liquid into a bowl, leaving the solids behind.

The solids are still good though and can be used for other purposes.

The purpose of clarifying the butter is to remove the solids that burn when heated.

This is where the brown the specks come from that show up on your food.

In this case, I saved the reserved solids for my pasta dish.

I would never venture to say that I nor anyone else could ever improve on Julia Child so my adaptations are purely because of personal taste.  I always season to taste as opposed to using set amounts.  My tastes are probably different from yours and others can always add more seasoning if they wish.  The other change I made was to use panko bread crumbs instead of fresh because my choices of fresh bread in my house were multi grain or cinnamon raisin, neither of which I wanted to use in this recipe. 

You will be making a dredging station.

The chicken breasts will be dredged first in flour, then egg, the bread crumbs before frying.

Once the breasts are dredged allow them to set for 10-15 minutes. 

Heat the clarified butter over med high heat.  

Add the chicken breasts and brown on one side for about 3 minutes.

Flip and brown on the other for 2 or 3 minutes.

The chicken is done when it is springy to the touch.

Make a brown butter sauce with the clarified butter that remains in the pan.

Bon Appetit!!

Suprêmes de Volaille à la Milanaise

very slightly adapted from Julia Child, Mastering the Art of French Cooking

4 suprêmes (small, boneless, skinless chicken breasts)

salt and pepper to taste

1 c. flour

1 egg

1/2 t. olive oil

1/2 c. freshly grated Parmesan Cheese

1/2 c. Panko Bread Crumbs

Clarified Butter

3 T. Minced Parsley (I used Gourmet Garden)

1 T. fresh Lemon Juice

Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper.  Make a dredging station by placing the flour into a shallow dish, whisking the egg with the olive oil in another shallow dish and combining the Parmesan and bread crumbs in a third shallow dish.  Dredge each breast, first in the flour, then the egg mixture and then the crumb/cheese mixture, pressing the crumbs and cheese onto the breasts.  Place the dredged breasts onto parchment or waxed paper and allow them to set for 10-15 minutes.

Heat 1/16" of butter in the bottom of a skillet over medium high heat. When the butter begins to deepen in color very slightly, put in the breasts. Let cook for 3 minutes, carefully regulating the heat so the butter does not turn more than a deep yellow in color.  Turn the breasts and sauté for another 2 minutes.   After 2 minutes, start pressing down on the chicken with your finger, as soon as it feels springy they are done.  Remove chicken to a platter.

Add additional clarified butter to skillet if necessary.  Cook over med high heat until butter turns a very light golden brown (1 or 2 minutes).  Remove from heat, stir in parsley and lemon, taste and season with salt and pepper if necessary.  Pour over chicken breasts and serve.  Print Recipe

This recipe is Kid Approved!!!

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