Herbed Chicken Tenders

HERBED CHICKEN TENDERS

Linda Wayman

1 ½ lbs. chicken breast tenders	½ c. dried Parmesan cheese
or chicken breast cut in strips.	1 tsp. thyme
salt and pepper	1 tsp. rosemary, crushed
1 c. gluten free flour mix	2-3 large fresh basil leaves,
2 large eggs, beaten with ¼ c.	chopped (optional)
water	¼ c. flat leaf parsley, chopped
Breading:	4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 c. gluten free bread crumbs (see notes) ½ c. fresh Parmesan cheese, shredded	1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

Pre-heat oven to 350° F. Line cookie sheet with aluminum foil and spray with oil cooking spray. Place in oven. Heat olive or vegetable oil in a large, nonstick skillet or frying pan over medium to medium-high heat. Place flour in a shallow dish. Season with salt and pepper. Beat eggs with water in a second dish alongside the flour. Combine breading ingredients in food processor and blend until well mixed or mix together in flat dish. Pour into third dish. Pie pans work great for this. Coat chicken in flour, then egg, then bread and cheese mixture. Cook chicken in skillet until deeply golden on each side, 3-4 minutes. Transfer to cookie sheet in pre-heated oven and finish off for another 5 minutes cooking time. Cook chicken five or six tenders at a time in a single layer, adding additional oil if necessary. If the chicken begins to brown too quickly lower heat slightly. Serve with bechamel sauce or a good spaghetti or pasta sauce.

Note: For gluten free bread crumbs I take my leftover ends of bread loaves, stale bread, leftover waffles, plain muffins, etc and process in food processor until crumbs. They are soft crumbs and worked very well for this recipe. If you want them drier crumbs, you could toast the bread before blending or leave crumbs in a warm oven to crisp.  Page 234

Not in the cookbook, but pictured is a GF mushroom sauce-yum! Here's the recipe:

Mushroom Sauce

1 ½ lb. mushrooms (white or oyster), sliced
1 T. olive oil
½ c. chicken broth
2 T. balsamic vinegar
2/3 c. heavy cream
Salt and pepper

Heat olive oil in a large skillet and add sliced mushrooms.  Cook on medium high heat for about 4 minutes or until starting to soften.  Add chicken broth and vinegar, cover and simmer for about 10 minutes until brown in color and slightly reduced.  Uncover and add heavy cream, stir well, and cook on low for about 2 minutes to infuse flavors and slightly thickened.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Linda served the chicken tenders with brown rice and the mushroom sauce. Sounds like a delicious meal plan!

Linda says: I used dry basil (about 2 T.) and parsley (about 3 T) and toasted GF waffles. It turned out even better I think than using the fresh parsley and basil. For easy clean up, use a foil covered baking sheet and spray it with a cooking spray. The tenders tend to stick sometimes.