Parmesan Polenta Chicken Mini Fillets

This recipe was developed as a response to the thought 'what can we eat tonight?'  The oven was going to be in use to bake some shortbread for J and we were out of the 'usual' items we'd use to coat chicken (ready salted crisps, crushed)   With a small remnant of parmesan and a bagful of polenta to hand, a plan (recipe) presented itself.  It's really simple and turned out well too.

Doing a fridge audit and seeing we had a pack of chicken mini fillets and needing something that could be baked in the oven, we decided coating the chicken would be a good idea.  

We grated some parmesan (about 40g) and added it to a handful (80g) polenta and seasoned with freshly ground black pepper.  Placing the coating in a bowl, an egg was beaten in another bowl and these were then used, in turn, to coat the chicken mini fillets.

Dipping the chicken in the beaten egg






it was then added to the parmesan/polenta mix and coated.

Once coated, the chicken was placed on a non-stick baking sheet before being baked in a 170ºC oven for 20-25 minutes until completely cooked through - adjust cooking time depending on the thickness of the pieces used.

When cooked, the parmesan/polenta coating was starting to brown.  The chicken was removed from the oven and served with chilli potatoes, stir fried kale and sweetcorn...



This coating and technique could also be used with chicken pieces to make nuggets or, if you flattened some larger chicken pieces, it would also be a good way to make escalopes.  Adding a dash of chilli powder to the parmesan/polenta will result in a spicier coating too.