Pan Fried Chicken

You know, as I was writing the list of ingredients, I thought, "Yep, all good. Nice and neat"...AND I FORGOT TO WRITE DOWN THE CHICKEN BOOBIES BREAST!! And, you might (or might not) notice the lack of photos of the uncooked/marinating chicken. Why? Because taking photos of raw chicken sucks. IT LOOKS TERRIBLE. *moans* Simply unacceptable.

The number of servings maybe a little inaccurate since it might only serve one and a half people...unless you're serving with something else. And a few friends know that sometimes, I don't eat very much. One of them apparently finds it very funny to imitate me eating a crumb and then going, "I'm full now". Gee, I'm just overwhelmed from the hilarity of it.

Um, don't flip the chicken too much alright? You know, because the juice will run out and you'll be left with a lemony, slightly spicy, slighty garlicky piece of cardboard. Not fun.

 

I made this some while ago for lunch, and I had the warm, juicy chicken in a fresh roll of bread from the bakery, with avocado, butternut lettuce and some mayo...

If you're a super garlicky person, add another crushed clove of garlic instead of mincing it. Crushing makes it easier to remove before cooking, because I don't know about you, but I absolutely detest little pieces of minced garlic on my chicken, I just feel as if I need to pick each piece off ...but I can't be bothered. However, I have no problem with the lemon zest since it sort of seems to disappear. Hmm...

No paprika?Then use cayenne. No cayenne? Use some other sort of chilli powder. No chilli powder? Use some/all of a fresh chilli. No fresh chilli? Don't have any of those? Don't make it. Have paprika/cayenne/chilli powder/fresh chilli but absolutely chilli intolerant (for some mad reason)? Then become chilli tolerant before trying this out. Uh, yes. The marinade looks kind of ugly. Better than the photo of the raw marinating chicken. *shudders*

Pan fried chicken (with Lemon, Chilli and Garlic)
Serves: 2

1/2 boneless Chicken Breast (~300g-350g)
Zest of a lemon (~1/2tsp)
Juice of 1/2 lemon (~2tbsp)
2 tbsp of White wine
1 tsp of paprika, or to taste
1 clove of garlic
Salt, to taste (~1/4 tsp)
1/4 cup of Vegetable Oil
2 tbsp of Butter

Combine the lemon zest, lemon juice, white wine, paprika and salt in a zip lock bag. Cut the chicken in more manageable slices (~3-4) and pound it (with a meat mallet, or a heavy pan) until it is around a 1 cm thick. Add it to the marinade and let it marinate for at least 30 minutes, max 4 hours (overnight is probably overkill). Heat up a non-stick pan on medium and add the oil and butter. Once the butter has melted, pat the chicken dry and carefully place in the pan. If the chicken has skin, place the skin side down first. Flip, only once or twice for about 4 minutes. Let the chicken rest for a few minutes before serving.

Serve hot with creamy mash potato, a slightly sweet and creamy sauce to balance out the flavour of the lemon juice or even mayonnaise.

**You can use a meat thermometer to check if it's cooked or if you have to, cut into the chicken and check.
**Go ahead and turn up the heat in the last half a minute or so if the chicken isn't getting a nice golden colour/caramelisation.