Chicken Scaloppine with Pan-Roasted Asparagus and Cherry Tomatoes

In case you are wondering the meaning of scaloppine, it generally refers to very thin slice of meat (usually veal or chicken), dredged in flour, sauteed and served with a sauce. This recipe uses whole chicken breasts that I pounded flat and panko bread crumbs for the breading.

Chicken Scaloppine with Pan-Roasted Asparagus and Cherry Tomatoes
Serve 4

4 chicken breasts, boneless/skinless (5 ounces each)
2 egg whites
1 cup panko bread crumbs
Your preferred seasoning (I used Penzey's Sunny Spain.)

2 pound fresh asparagus, tough ends trimmed off and rinsed
1 pint cherry tomatoes, whole

1.  Separate egg yolks from the whites. Throw away (or fry and give them to your dog. Ours loves the yolks!)
2.  Mix the panko crumbs and seasoning to taste. I used about 1 teaspoon of the Sunny Spain.
3.  Place the chicken breasts between heavy sheets of plastic or in a Ziplock freezer bag. Using a mallet, pound the breasts flat (to about 1/2 inch.)
4.  Run the breasts through the egg wash, and then dredge in crumbs. Set aside.
5.  Preheat a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Spray with cooking spray.
6.  Pan fry on each side until done (3-4 minutes per side.)  Remove from the skillet, set aside and cover.
7.  Respray the same skillet and return the the heat.
8.  Lay asparagus in skillet.  Season to taste (again, Sunny Spain works well here.)  Cook for about 2 minutes over medium-high heat, turning once halfway through.
9.  Add whole tomatoes to the asparagus.  Continue to cook until the tomatoes begin to burst and get soft.

I did not serve this with a sauce, but you could certainly make a red sauce, or deglaze the pan after cooking the chicken with about 6 ounces of white wine, and cook that down to 4 ounces and serve over the chicken. However, in my opinion, the chicken is moist and flavorful and does not need to be sauced.

Nutritional data (one chicken breast):
Calories:     233
Fat:             5.3g
Sat fat:        1.9g
Chol:         81.2mg
Sodium:   122.4mg
Carbs:         9.6g
Fiber:          0.5g
Protein:     34.5g

If you want a much more detailed review of asparagus and many more ideas on how to prepare and use it, here is a great web resource: How to Cook Asparagus

Thanks to Lita Watson for sharing this information with the blog and all of my readers!

If you want to a new podcast on your play list, listen to my show Make Your Someday Today (MYST). Here is a link to the first episode, where I tell my personal story of how I went from wearing a 3XL shirt down to a Medium, from 48" waist to 34", and my jacket went from a 54 Portly to 44 Regular.

If you are trying to lose weight and want to know if you need to stop drinking wine with a meal like this, here is a good episode to listen to. (Spoiler alert: You don't need to give up wine!)