Two Home Runs and a Potato!

For the first time ever Fern loved everything I put in front of him.  He didn't want a potato so his plate had just chicken and salad. He took a bite of the chicken and immediately exclaimed "This is delicious!"  A moment later he tried the salad and again exclaimed "This salad is delicious too!" Encouraged, I dug in. Yup, it was all good!

First, the bread crumbs. I started with a Ciabatta I made the other day and ground it up in the blender. In a bowl I whisked an egg with:

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp mixed pepper

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp poultry seasoning

pinch of cayenne

It just occurred to me that I forgot to flour the breasts before dipping in the egg but it didn't seem to matter. I rolled the breast in the egg to make sure every part was covered, then rolled it in the bread crumbs.  Earlier I fried the skins up for the dogs so I oiled the roasting pan with fat from the skin.  I sprayed a little oil over the bread crumb coating to brown it. Then the breasts went into a 375º oven for 35 minutes. 

The salad dressing was an experiment. I wanted to try using tomato sauce in a vinaigrette to see how it would taste (I had half a can of tomato sauce in the fridge). Russian dressing has tomato so it could be good. I used up the remaining romaine lettuce which was sweet and crunchy. The dressing had to bring the flavour. To that end I mixed up:

1 tbsp oil (1/2 olive, 1/2 vegetable)

1-2 tsp rice wine vinegar

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp tomato sauce (it happened to be Hunt's)

1/2 tsp mixed pepper

1 tsp chopped fresh chives

1 tsp chopped fresh parsley

Whisk it up, toss the romaine in it and plate the salad.

The baked potato was microwaved then wrapped in foil with butter, salt and chives and put in the oven for the last ten minutes the chicken breast took. Topped with sour cream, more fresh chives and the last of my artificial bacon bits (I promised Fern I wouldn't buy them again so it's real bacon only from now on!). It was really good.

I'm still patting myself on the back over this meal. If I can make my plates pretty as well as delicious, I'll finally be achieving my goal of restaurant quality food at home, every day.