Country Fried Chicken...Sewell Style

As some of you may know, I am a big fan of southern cooking. One of my favorite southern dishes is country fried chicken. This is a healthier version of a traditionally deep fried dish, which I sear in olive oil and bake before dousing the chicken in white gravy. The process below may be a bit tricky for beginners, but the finished product makes all of the work well worth it!

Ingredients

2 lbs Chicken breasts

2 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil

½ cup Italian bread crumbs

½ cup Flour

1 Egg

4 tbsp Butter

Salt and pepper to taste

2 ½ cups plus 1 tbsp Milk

1 tsp Basil

1 tsp Thyme

Process

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Pour ¼ cup of flour onto a plate and then pour the bread crumbs on a second plate. Crack the egg into a regular bowl and add about one tablespoon of milk. Place a strip of plastic wrap over the chicken and then flatten with a meat tenderizer or a heavy object like a frying pan. Dip the chicken in the flour, then the egg wash and then the bread crumbs to form a crust on the chicken.

In a pan lined with one tablespoon of olive oil on medium-high heat, sear the chicken on both sides. When browned, place in a baking dish and cook in the preheated oven for 30 minutes.

With about 15 minutes left on the chicken, melt the butter on low heat. When the butter is fully melted, blend in the flour, salt, pepper, thyme and basil until smooth; stir constantly. When fully blended, stir in the milk. Turn the heat to medium and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. From this point, it should take about one minute for the gravy to thicken.

Place the chicken on a plate, possibly accompanied by some mashed potatoes, and drench in gravy!

Taste Test

Baking the chicken makes it extremely tender while searing the outsides locks in the juices making it tremendously moist. The bread crumbs add great texture and flavor to the chicken while the gravy brings everything together. Combing the chicken and mashed potatoes on your fork is about perfect as one single bite can be. Now if I could only find a way to add bacon…

Leftover Quality

This was a great, albeit hearty, lunch the next day. The bottom crust of the chicken got a little over-saturated but it didn’t affect the taste. Plus, the gravy will do that within two minutes of being on the chicken.