Milanese Schnitzel or Escalopes
Or, if you are in Bolzano, Schnitzel, by which name it is more commonly known in the UK. I remember as a child often having a plate of spaghetti with a Scallopina – the best of two dishes on the same plate.
I used to help Dad make hundreds of these each week in the deli and it was our speciality.
We would make them fresh every day, cook them at 11.30, and serve them warm in an onion
foccaccia roll with fresh salad and mayonnaise – and they were just the best. We always had
a queue. Some customers would ask for the chicken to be heated; Dad always refused. ‘It is
crispy – if we microwave it, it will not be crispy any more and we will kill it.’ Dad respected food
more than these people and I never saw him heat one up for any customer!
The other good thing about Schnitzel is how far you can make them go. Two chicken
breasts will feed four people as normal portions. They are also quite a summer dish, and are
great for picnics. Good, simple, tasty.
Serves 4
Ingredients:
2 good-sized chicken breasts
2 eggs, beaten
60 g grated Parmesan cheese
200 g dried breadcrumbs
vegetable oil for frying
a sprig of rosemary
salt and freshly ground pepper
Lay a chicken breast out flat on a chopping board, remove the fillet and put aside. Cut the
remaining breast horizontally into three slices. Place your hand on top and cut in a straight
line with a sharp knife, bending down slightly to make sure you are cutting an even thickness. Repeat with the other breast.
Beat the slices and fillets out with a meat tenderizer so they are thin, but not transparent.
This not only makes the meat more tender, but ‘stretches it’ so that it will go further. If you find
the tenderizer sticking to the meat, just wet it a little now and then. Place the beaten-out slices
in a bowl with the eggs, Parmesan, salt and pepper.
Pour the dried breadcrumbs into a tray or large plate. Lift an escalope from the egg mixture
and put it into the tray of breadcrumbs. Now this is where many people go wrong. Their
breadcrumbs don’t stick to the meat because they are not rough enough! Take a handful of the
breadcrumbs and cover the meat, then hit it with your fist or back of your hand, turning it and
making sure the breadcrumbs are covering the meat evenly.
Heat the oil with the rosemary in a frying pan so that it sizzles when the escalopes are
added, and fry three or four at a time until they are golden but not brown or they will become
tough. As they are ready, remove them with a fork, dripping any excess oil back into the pan,
and place them on some kitchen paper on a plate before transferring them to a serving dish. I
would always serve a nice crisp white wine with Scallopine.
*taken from the book ‘From Seed to plate’ by Paolo Arrigo, published by Simon and Schuster