Breaded Chicken Cutlets

So this is a recipe that I learned from one of my senior year roommates in college. Her father was a chef in NYC for many years, and she has inherited many of his cooking skills. This recipe came to me one night when we hosted a potluck dinner in our apartment, and she put me in charge of making the chicken cutlets. I'd never handled raw chicken in my life (yes I was 22 ha) and didn't even know what a meat pounder was (but I did know that the name was definitely something you could make jokes about). How far I've come in the 2 years since. The picture shown above is from chicken cutlets made from leftover chicken/egg wash from my Chicken Cordon Bleu recipe. You can cook it several ways (L taught me the frying pan method), but the one pictured was done in the oven. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 2 - 3 chicken breasts, sliced into thin cutlets 
• 2 eggs, whisked
• 1 1/2 cup flour, all-purpose or whole-wheat
• 1 1/2 cup bread crumbs, regular or Italian-style
• Cooking oil

Directions:

~FOR BOTH FRYING & OVEN~

• Cut your chicken breasts into thin cutlets. Pound cutlets to make thinner. (Not necessary if you don't have a pounder, just cut them thin enough in the first place then!!)
• Put egg wash, flour, and bread crumbs into 3 separate bowls.

• Take a cutlet, dip it thoroughly in egg wash.
• Next, dip it thoroughly in flour, coating it evenly.
• Finally, dip and evenly coat cutlet in bread crumbs.
• Repeat with remaining cutlets.

~FRYING~

• Heat up oil in bottom of frying pan over medium heat. Watch once it gets really hot, little oil specks will fly up and hit you in the face/arms/chest/wherever they can get.
• Once oil/pan are heated, place cutlets in pan. Cook on each side for 2-3 minutes. Repeat several times, flipping sides, until chicken is cooked and crumbs are brown and crunchy.
• Remove from heat and eat!

~OVEN~

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Spray cookie sheet with nonstick oil.
• Place cutlets on cookie sheet.
• Cook in oven for 11-16 minutes, or until cooked through.
• Broil for 3 minutes to brown.
• Remove from oven and eat!