Chicken Paillards (Cutlets) with Mushroom Cream Sauce

December 20, 2009Katie

Hallelujah!


I finally made something out of a Martha Stewart Living magazine!

Chicken Paillards.

What the heck are paillards?  A fancy name, that’s what.  Martha at her finest.  French names and all.

Paillards are simply a cut of meat, pounded thin so that it cooks in a flash.  It’s really not that hard to do.  I strayed from Martha’s recipe quite a bit, but the paillard bit inspired me.

I just got one of these, so this recipe tempted me.

Meat flattener on one side, tenderizer on the other, you just unscrew the wheel at the bottom and surprise! A two-in-one tool!

So let’s make paillards children, shall we?

Take a chicken breast.  You’ll note that the chicken breast has one kind of straight side and one weird looking side.

Get your sharpest knife for this one friends.  You’re going to start slicing about halfway down on the chicken from the weird side.  Slice horizontally through the chicken, but not the whole way!

Try as I might, I could not hold the chicken breast, and the knife and the camera, so I couldn’t get the first shot of this.  This is what it looked like when I finished.

Once you can get it to open like a book, then you take your knife with soft, gentle strokes and slice any part that hasn’t opened fully. You should now have one bigger piece of chicken that is half its original thickness.

If you’ve done this, my darlings, you’ve just learned how to “butterfly”.

Take your butterflied open chicken breast and place it inside a gallon Ziploc bag. Do not seal the bag!If you do, you’ll trap air inside and you might pop the bag when you pound on it!

Take your meat flattener or pounder, or even a rolling pin.  Starting at the center of the chicken, pound and push outward toward all edges of the chicken.

Your chicken will almost double in size and be about one-fourth inch thick when you’re done.  Remove it from the bag.

Cut it in half with your sharp knife.

Sprinkle some salt and pepper on it.

Continue making more paillards.  Estimate one chicken breast or two paillard pieces per person.  Four if you’re a 16 year old boy who eats everything in sight.

I have teenage boy issues. Sorry.

Now, in a heavy skillet, heat up one tablespoon each of butter and olive oil.  Swirl it around and let it all melt together and get bubbly.

Take some tongs and put in your paillards.

This is going to go quick.  Only cook these babies for 2 minutes or until they’re nice and golden brown.

Then flip them.

Cook for another 2 minutes then remove to a plate or platter.

Keep going, making all of your palliards.  If you need, add more equal parts of butter and oil until you’re finished.

Chop up one shallot or about 2 tablespoons total.

Add it into the skillet along with 2 cups of sliced mushrooms.  I used cremini because they’re my favorite.

Stir and cook these around until the mushrooms are brown, around 3-4 minutes.  Then toss in 2 cloves of finely minced garlic.  When that garlic hits the pan, your kitchen is going to smell like pure heaven baby.

After a minute, stir in one tablespoon of spicy brown mustard.

And stir in 3/4 cup of heavy cream.

Stir this up and taste a bit with a spoon.  I found it needed no extra seasoning due to the salt and pepper from the chicken that was left in the pan.  Adjust according to your taste though.  Make sure you scraped any bits off the bottom of the pan that are leftover from the chicken, this is amazingly flavorful!

Add in one-half teaspoon dried thyme.

Stir it all up really well and let it bubble just a little and thicken up, around 2 minutes.

Spoon your sauce over your paillards.

I love you Martha.

Did I really just say that out loud?

This will be a regular at our house.

Fancy words or not.

It’s good.

Katie’s Printable Recipe – Chicken Paillards with Mushroom Cream Sauce

Cooking with Love,

~Katie

2 Comments

  • bunny

    December 21, 2009 at 8:52 pm

    In Georgia, we just call that fried chicken with gravy. :) Looks yummy! And I love your 2x Tenderizer--jealous!
    1. dishinanddishes

      December 23, 2009 at 10:05 am

      Bunny - I am having so much fun with my new free loot!

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