Dinner Tonight: Chicken Cutlet with Cheesy Grits

I was looking for something to make with the amazing Stone Ground Grits that Carrie brought me back from her trip to South Carolina last week, and decided that since the kids didn't like shrimp I would need to avoid the old standby.  I decided on a pounded and breaded chicken cutlet with creamy, cheesy grits that I made with smoked cheddar.  AMAZING!  Talk about Fat Boy Heaven on a plate, this was it.​

Chicken Cutlet with Cheesy Grits

Classic creamy grits kicked up a few notches with the addition of smoked cheddar cheese and served with a thin chicken cutlet breaded and fried in bacon grease. This is the definition of Fat Boy Heaven on a plate.

INGREDIENTS

• For Chicken

  • 2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts
  • 6 slices fresh bacon
  • flour
  • 3 eggs
  • bread crumbs

• Grits

  • 3/4 Cup stone ground grits
  • 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
  • 1 1/2 cups whole milk
  • 8 oz Smoked Cheddar cheese, shredded

• Pan sauce

  • 1/2 cup beer or barley wine (I used Widmer's Old Knucklehead Barley Wine)
  • Juice of two lemons
  • pan drippings from chicken
  • bacon, crumbled
  • diced onions
  • Salt and Pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

• Chicken

  1. Butterfly chicken to thin is out, cutting all of the way through.
  2. Cover each piece of chicken with plastic wrap and pound to 1/2 inch throughout to speed cooking time.
  3. Dredge chicken in flour and let rest
  4. While chicken rests, place bacon in large frying pan and fry to crisp, rendering the fat. Remove bacon and set aside.
  5. Take floured chicken and run through egg wash and then coat with breadcrumbs. Place each piece gently into hot bacon fat in the pan. Fry to a crispy golden brown before turning. Once all chicken is cooked through and coating is crisp, remove to a warm oven on a rack to maintain crispness of the coating.

• Grits

  1. Add chicken broth and milk to large sauce pan and bring to a boil. Stir in grits and keep stirring to prevent clumping. After 15 minutes, stir in grated cheese. Keep stirring until grits are soft and creamy (25-35 minutes total cooking time)

• Pan Sauce

  1. In frying pan that you cooked chicken in, add onions to sweat (2-3 minutes), then add beer to deglaze. Once beer is at a boil, add seasoning. Add lemon juice as sauce begins to thicken. Once at desired thickness, crumble bacon and add to sauce then remove from heat.
  2. Plate grits, then place cutlet over them. When serving, add pan sauce over the top of both.