Lemon Parmesan Chicken

I've been utterly traumatised over the past 24 hours or so. Yesterday morning, I decided to make a batch of Banana Muffins and they went completely wrong in the oven. I thought it was because I tried to use low fat butter instead of the regular stuff, so just fired them in the bin and cursed a lot. Last night, I put a piece of bacon into the oven to roast for dinner. 40 minutes later, I went to throw in the Cauliflower Cheese and the damn meat was still snorting. PANIC!!! I had to switch to emergency Pasta and Meatballs thawed out in the microwave instead and try to find a repairman. We certainly don't have the spare dosh for a new oven, especially after the washing machine dying on us a few weeks ago, so I left a begging message on his answering machine.

Luckily, he called this afternoon, diagnosed the Zanussi as suffering from a severe case of element failure and replaced it. I celebrated by cooking that piece of bacon for tomorrow night's dinner in the oven and making yummy Lemon Parmesan Chicken on the hob.

Lemon Parmesan Chicken
I start with two chicken breasts which I trim and beat the crap out of with a rolling pin. Wrap them in baking parchment first to avoid meat splatter around your kitchen - they need to be about 3/4 of a centimetre thick.

Then put 2 cups of fresh breadcrumbs into a bowl, add the grated zest of a lemon, a small handful of grated Parmesan, some salt and pepper, and some flatleaf parsley - mix it all together. Beat a small egg and pour onto a shallow plate - dip the chicken in the egg and then coat with the breadcrumb mix. Heat a large frying pan with about a 1 tbsp of olive oil and fry the chicken for about 5 minutes on either side until golden brown and crunchy.

Drain briefly on some kitchen paper & squeeze some of the de-zested lemon over it. Serve with whatever floats your boat. Tonight it was McCains Rustic Oven Chips (a fave of The Hubs) and some green beans tossed in anchovy garlic butter.

Apologies for the lack of pictures, but it was basically inhaled!!!