escalope of chicken

Escalope of chicken - this is one of my absolute favorite dishes to make. It's quick, easy and besides the extra dishes you have to wash afterwards, it is a definite keeper. I had to improvise a little bit because I forgot to run to the grocery store Christmas Eve so I was low on ingredients. I usually serve this on a bed of mashed potatoes with cherry tomatoes for garnish but I had neither/sufficient ingredients at my disposal.

I used some sweet potatoes laying around in my house for the mash and made a quick caramel syrup to add extra sweetness. Surprisingly, the impromptu sweet potatoes turned out pretty well.

Escalope of Chicken
By Gordon Ramsay, Serves 4

Ingredients (Chicken):
- Chicken breast 2 pieces
- Bread crumbs
- All-Purpose flour
- Eggs 2
- Fresh mozzarella cheese
- Grated Parmesan cheese
- Shallot 1
- Cherry tomatoes 4
- Basil
- Clove of Garlic, finely chopped

1) Trim off any excess fat and split the chicken breast into two pieces so you end up with two thin pieces of chicken breast. Take care and don't cut your hand in the process. With a rolling pin (or any type of basher for that matter) roll/beat the chicken until it's nice and even.

2) Set up your stations with flour, beaten eggs and breadcrumbs. Season the flour with salt and pepper and season the bread crumbs with grated Parmesan and a little bit of freshly ground pepper.

3) Season both sides of the chicken breasts well with salt and pepper and place the chicken breast into the flour and shake off any excess flour. Next, put it into the egg wash. Finally, coat the chicken in breadcrumbs and make sure all of the chicken is nicely covered. Repeat for all the remaining chicken breasts.

**PREHEAT TO 400 DEGREES F**

4) Add olive oil to a hot pan and get a nice golden color on each chicken breast. About 1 - 2 minutes per side. We will finish cooking the chicken in the oven so don't worry that it's not cooked :-)

5) While the chicken breasts are resting, it's time to make the sauce. Finely chop the shallot and garlic (you can crush the garlic if you want) and split the cherry tomatoes into halves. In a hot pan, add the garlic and then the shallots. Don't overcook the garlic or it will turn bitter! Give them a few good tosses and in goes the cherry tomatoes. Toss a bit more and cook until the cherry tomatoes start to give off their juices and start to lose their firmness.

6) On a baking sheet, place the chicken breast and top off with the sauce. On top of the sauce, place slice(s) of fresh mozzarella and sprinkle grated Parmesan over the mozzarella. The Parmesan will help give it a nice golden color in the oven. Finally, drizzle some olive oil over the chicken to keep it nice and moist in the oven.

7) Place the chicken into the oven for 8 - 10 minutes. (If you have thicker chicken breasts, the cooking time may be longer...maybe 12 - 14 minutes. Mine were about 1/2 inch thick)

8) Place on a bed of whatever mash you have and serve.