Lemon Chicken Gougons with Lemon Dip

As you probably know, chicken is one of my favourite ingredients (see my posting titled, chicken, chicken and more chicken) and chicken gougons are a definite hit in our house.  They can be cooked for a snack, accompanied by dips or for dinner with salad and steamed potatoes, stuffed into sandwiches or pitta bread and eaten cold with coleslaw salad on a picnic.  For young children they are much healthier than shop bought chicken nuggets.

You can change the flavour of the breadcumbs by using different fresh herbs or spices.  Add a couple of tsp curry powder and some chilli to white breadcrumbs and serve the gougons with a mango chutney dip.



Ingredients

700g chicken breast fillets
Zest of 1 lemon, finely grated
25g parmesan cheese, finely grated
3 slices brown seeded bread, made into crumbs

Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 eggs, lightly beaten
Rape seed oil for shallow frying
1 small bunch chives, finely chopped

Place the breadcrumbs, parmesan, lemon zest, chives and seasoning in a bowl and mix together.

In another bowl lighty beat the eggs.

Dip each chicken breast fillet first into the egg and then into the breadcrumb mixture, when coated lay them on a flat plate until ready to cook.

Heat the oil in a heavy frying pan over a medium heat.  Cook the chicken gougons for 5 minutes each side, in batches and don't overcrowd the pan.  Keep the cooked ones warm in the oven until the rest are ready.

For the dip

Zest of 1 lemon
Juice of 1/2 lemon

2 tbsp mayonnaise

2 tbsp natural yoghurt

Black pepper to taste

Mix all the ingredients for the dip together and serve in a small bowl.  Left-over lemon can be cut in small wedges and served with the chicken.