Coconut Pecan Chicken Paillard

For those of you veteran Remodelaholic readers, you may remember our anniversary date to Simply Fondue. Four courses of heaven in a fondue pot!  One of the meats that we picked for the main course was a honey pecan chicken, people,- it. was. SOO. good.  Excuse me while I wipe the drool.  But the price tag is just not a thing I am willing to pay again.   So, a while back we tried to recreate it, but it just was not quite there.

Enter last night's dinner.  We had some friends over and thought we would try to recreate a pecan encrusted chicken.  When it hit me, like a bolt of lightening from Zeus, there should be coconut as well, and the heavens thundered and I knew it must be!   It was the perfect mix of richness and sweetness, with the roasted pecans and the slightly sweet coconut... Oh, la la!

I decided to make a paillard chicken, which sounds all cool and stuff be it really just means you pound the plucky out of the chicken til it is an equal thickness throughout, this both tenderizes the chicken and speeds up cooking time. 

Then you just dip the chicken in a few things and fry it up.  Yeah,.. I said fry, weekends really make my diet suffer.   But people it was worth it!  I am not kidding it is delish!  Also super easy and fast,...

Let me just warn you, don't heat up the oil before you are ready, I smoked up the whole house just in time for our friends to enjoy it!  We had to open all the windows and doors and lock up the cats!  But we lived and dinner was worth it.  Here you go!

(This is also a great fast week night recipe. You can make it in about 15 minutes flat.)

Coconut Pecan Crusted Chicken Paillard

Serves 4-6

Canola oil (for frying) .
1/2 c cornstarch .
approx.4 -5 chicken breasts, beaten to 3/8" thickness, cut into 3"x3" pieces .
1 cup finely chopped pecans
1 c shredded sweetened finely chopped coconut .
2 large eggs, beaten ( you could just do egg whites, but I didn't really want to waste the yolks again...)

Directions

• Beat chicken to even thickness, (I place the breast in a freezer bag and seal it shut to while I am pounding it to keep it clean) Cut pounded breasts into smaller pieces, about 3"x 3"
• Pour cornstarch, shallow bowl; set aside.
• Beat eggs in medium sized mixing bowl; set aside
• Place coconut and pecans in bowl, mix thoroughly
• Dredge chicken in cornstarch mixture;
• Dip chicken in eggs,
• Then press chicken into coconut/pecan mixture on both sides, set aside on plate.
• Repeat dredging process with remaining chicken.
• Heat oil in heavy skillet (oil should be about 11/8" to 1/4" inch deep - add more oil if needed)
• Add chicken to the hot oil in batches.
• Fry until cooked through, about 2 to 3 mins per side.
• Place on paper towel covered plate to drain serve immediately