Schnitzel and Chickpea Salad #Nusgourmet

• Tweet
• Email
• Sharebar

• Tweet
• Email

Got into the cooking mood again so I thought I would teach you fine folks another recipe from the #Nusgourmet cookbook.

Like last week I am keeping things pretty simple here because I want to make sure that anyone can make these meals. There’s nothing like a homemade meal and you can feel proud that you actually made something delicious that didn’t break the bank or burn your house down. Simple is better and much more accessible for the dilettante and kitchen wiz alike. It’s fast, delicious and easy on the dishes!

Always invite a guest when you cook as there’s nothing worse than eating alone. I do a lot of things solo but eating and drinking are things that I would much rather have company for.

Sean Ward the food vlogger

You really get the chance to connect with someone when you break bread with them and a little bit of hospitality goes a long way in helping someone get to know you. We’re all busy people and, let’s face it, we shoot the sh*t a lot when we’re out at the tweetups, the big events, the bar etc, and don’t REALLY get to know one another all that well. So if you can find the time, invite someone over that you may have met at a social gathering and get cooking!

Sean Ward was my guest this week and he brought his video camera along, as usual! So this post will have the recipe and some fun footage to help you get a visual idea of what the process is like.

Italian Chickpea salad:

Extremely easy to make and oh so delicious. You can even make a bunch of this to take to work with you. Just watch your co-workers come sniffing around when you heat it up.

Ingredients:

1 540 ML can of chick peas, drained

1 small red pepper, thinly sliced

1 small onion , thinly sliced

3 slices of prosciutto

2 cloves of garlic, minced.

a handful of cilantro or parsley, chopped

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper

Method:

It’s all about the prep. The cooking part is dead easy.

Cut the pepper in half from top to bottom, remove the seeds and white membrane. Slice very thinly lengthwise.

Cut onion into 4 quarters, slice thinly by sliding your blade across the cutting board and through the onion in a straight line.

Mince the garlic, slice the prosciutto in chunks – you don’t have to be specific about the shape of the slice. Just cut it up. Give the cilantro/parsley a rough chop.

on medium heat, saute minced garlic in oil, add the onions cook for about 1 minute, add peppers cook for 1 minute, drop the prosciutto in, cook for 1 minute.

Empty entire can of chick peas into pan, season with pepper and salt to taste.

Turn of the heat but leave the pan on the burner, add the cilantro/parsley and mix it all together so everything is warm.

Say grace, crack a beer.

Serve at once with lots of crusty bread.

Chicken Schnitzel

Serving Suggestion

The very basic recipe involves only 4 ingredients: Chicken breast, 1 egg, flour and bread crumbs. I like to jazz it up with herbs and spices to give it that extra kick. If you want to do the same, I added the spices I usually use as “optional” ingredients.

Ingredients:

2 fresh boneless, skinless breasts

1 egg, beaten (in a bowl)

1 cup of breadcrumbs

1/3 cup of flour

Olive oil

Optional Nus Ingredients:

1 lime

Oregano

Thyme

Hungarian Paprika

Fresh Ground pepper

Method:

Combine the flour and bread crumbs either using a sieve or just your clean hands. Beat the egg in a bowl.

Fillet the chicken breasts by holding your blade flat and horizontally (as if you are going to place your Boba Fett figurine on the flat surface of the blade) and CAREFULLY cutting the chickens in half lengthwise. NOTE: This technique can be a bit tricky and dangerous if you’ve never cut chicken before – so until you’ve had some practice I would recommend asking the butcher to just fillet for you and save yourself a trip to the ER.

Some people like to hammer the fillets down. If you want your fillets really flat (they will cook faster) then hammer them gently in a plastic food bag with a meat hammer or a rolling pin.

Coat the bottom of a frying pan with olive oil. The oil should be about half a centimeter deep, turn the heat on to about medium high.

As the oil heats, dip the breasts in the egg, dredge them in flower and toss them into the pan. (If you’re not fast at doing this consider breading the chicken before turning the heat on – just make sure you wash your hands before you do)

You will know when to flip them when you start to see the underside get golden brown.

Prepare a big plate and line it with a double layer of paper towel. Put the cooked chicken breast onto the plate and let them stand for about a minute.

Garnish with a lime wedge to squeeze onto the chicken and serve with any side you wish. Pasta, steamed veggies, rice, the chickpea salad we made above.

Crack another beer. Go into food coma.