Chicken Milanese with Corn and Tomato Salad

Last post I mentioned we picked out new carpet.  It's here!  It is so much better than what we had.  The old carpet was blue, stained, and completely worn out.  I think it was original to the townhouse.

Before:

Yucky stained carpet.

After:

No more stains!

So fresh.

It really brightens the rooms too.  We love it.  Maddux took a few sniffs and offered his approval.  One home improvement can now be checked off the list.

Now here's a summer chicken dish which is similar to this chicken dish but whatever.  Good is good.

Chicken Milanese with Corn and Tomato Salad
From Every Day with Rachael Ray

1 cup flour
3 large egges, beaten
1 1/2 cups panko bread crumbs
1 lemon, zested and juiced
handlful fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
parmesean cheese
4 boneless chicken breasts, pounded thin
salt and pepper
extra virgin olive oil
2 ripe tomatoes, diced
2 ears of corn, kernels scraped from cob
1/2 small red onion
1/2 cup basil leaves, chopped

In 3 separate bowls, add the flour, eggs, and breadcrumbs.  Combine the lemon zest, parsley and garlic and finely chop on a cutting board.  Add this gremolata to the breadcrumbs along with the paremesean cheese and mix together.

Season the chicken with salt and pepper.  Coat in the flour, then the eggs, then the breadcrumbs.  Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat and add the chicken cutlets in batches.  Cook on each side for about 3-4 minutes.

In a bowl, combine the tomatoes, corn, onion, and basil.  Season with salt and pepper.

Serve the chicken with the corn and tomato salad on top.  Drizzle with lemon juice if desired.

Staycation 2011

Last week, M and I took a much needed week off from work.  It was glorious.

We did a lot of eating out. Here is a small recap in food:

We went to Maggiano's - where we had our first date

Mozzarella Marinara Appetizer

I got: Crab and Shrimp Tropheo.  The pasta was a little overcooked.

M got: Chicken and Truffle Tortellacci.  He at it all.

 Then on another day, we went to the best place on Earth - Richardson's.

Ah, Richardson's.  How I love you.

Gorgeous Day.  I sat outside while M hit golf balls.

Superior form

Then I got ice cream.  Look at all the delicious flavors.  It was a very hard decision.

I finally chose Black Raspberry with jimmies.  A nudge to my childhood.  So very good.

M didn't want any.  Crazy boy.

And then I had a Girl's Night Out.  It was such a blast.

Beef Tenderloin with an Orange Buerre Blanc and Whipped Potatoes.  Three of us got the same dish.  It was amazing.

Another girlfriend got this dish.  It was called Duck Duck Goose (awesome, right?).  It was duck breast, duck confit, and foie gras.  She let me taste the duck breast.  D-E-Licious.  She also let me taste the foie gras because I had never had it.  Don't think I much care to have it again.

And that concludes our Staycation: A Retrospect in Pictures

Yeah, I didn't end up taking many pictures.   I was relaxing.  We also picked out new carpet.  Thrilling, isn't it?

Crispy Tilapia with Creamed Corn

I'm in a horrendous class right now.  My group handed in a draft of a business plan the other day and nowhere did it say that we had to hand in a fully completed draft (it actually didn’t even say we had to hand in a draft at all).  So we just got the feedback from the Prof. and he was all like you didn’t complete this, I am surprised at the quality of your work, blah blah.  He also said he realizes that it’s a lot of work but the other group got it done.  I felt like going, really, you’re comparing groups?  Maybe their schedules offer more flexibility.

And then he says this is supposed to be a real life business plan.  Um, those usually take months if not years to write and he expects us to write a REAL one in 8 weeks along with work, life, and other homework assignments he gives us??  To me, that's unreasonable.  Oh and did I mention, it's due for real next week?  I think I used the word 'real' too much.

Grr.

I made a good dinner this week though.  Actually, I've made a couple so far.  This was the first.  It was crispy tilapia with fresh homemade creamed corn.

I don't have any other pictures of the creamed corn because really, the look of it is really off-putting. But it was tasty.

 

Crispy Tilapia with Creamed Corn

From Every Day with Rachael Ray

 

4 tilapia fillets

salt and pepper

grainy mustard

1 cup breadcrumbs (I used panko)

corn kernels from 7-8 ears of corn

4 tbsp butter

1/2 cup heavy cream

extra virgin olive oil

flat leaf parsley, chopped

 

Season the fish with salt and pepper.  Spread however much mustard you like over one side of the fish.  Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the mustard and press them into the fish to make them stick.  Refrigerate while you start the corn.

 

Puree about 3 cups of the corn kernels in a food processor.  Pour into a medium saucepan and add the remaining whole corn kernels.  Add the butter and cook over medium heat until hot.  Stir in the heavy cream and continue to cook.  Stir occasionally until thickened.  Season with salt and pepper.  Remove from heat and cover to keep warm.

 

Meanwhile, heat some olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.  Add as many fillets of fish that can fit in the pan crumb side down.  Cook on first side for about 6 minutes, until golden brown.  Flip over and cook on the other side for another five minutes.  Repeat will remaining fish.

 

Serve the fish with the creamed corn.

Hello?

Guess I didn't make very good on my 'promise' that I would post more.  Oops.

Time just gets away so quickly, doesn't it?  In all honesty, I haven't been inspired to do much lately.  M and I have been in a total funk and way down in the dumps that there has been no energy to do anything.  It hasn't been very much fun lately.  Even Maddux has been blue.

Look at him laying in front of the stove.  Please, cook something, he says.

Job hunting sucks.  Straight up; no other way to put it.  Thank goodness neither one of us is out of a job but the searching, applying, and rejection is tough.  I have never seen someone work so hard at trying to find a new job and have nothing come out of it.  I feel so bad for M.  And for me really.  Certain life plans rely on this new job.  So come on already, Economy!  Show us some love.  Please?

This blog may be a good release for me.  Don't get me wrong, I have amazing girlfriends.  The best ever.  And they've listened to me (probably too much) and they're probably sick of hearing the same woe is me story over and over again.  But listen they do.  And they're always good to give me the boost and the laugh I need.  But sometimes it's good to write things down.  Although you may not want to hear my drivel either.  Heh.

I haven't been very inspired to cook either.  Really most things I have once enjoyed in the past didn't even bring a spark to me lately.  So depressing.  Time to pull myself up and enjoy the things I do have.  Everything else will fall into place when it's meant to.  Doesn't mean I have the patience for that because Lord knows I don't.  But I have been blessed in my life.  Time to get back to remembering the things I have and not focusing on what I don't.