This is my version of the infamous KFC "sandwich". All of the bread or wheat products in this recipe can be substituted with roughly equivalent portions of reasonable gluten-free substitutes.
The Double Downgathai
Serves 6
6 chicken breasts, boneless & skinless
Eggs, extra large (roughly a four or five, but it might be more or less)
Seasoned bread crumbs
12-18 thick slices prosciutto (di Parma preferred, of course, but domestic acceptable)
Aged provolone, grated or shredded, to taste
9-12 slices nice fresh tomato
Fresh basil leaf
Virgin or extra virgin olive oil
2 eggs
8 good sized cloves fresh garlic
1 thick slice crusty italian or french bread
Cider or champagne vinegar
Fresh ground black pepper (and/or pink or green pepper)
1 medium-large lemon
You will need a food processor with one of those tops that you can open up and drop things into while the processor is running.
Let's start with the aioli.
Separate two eggs and discard the whites. Let them settle at room temperature while you zest the lemon (you only need a little for the recipe, but you can freeze the rest of the zest for later) and then juice it.
Pour about three tablespoons of vinegar over the slice of bread, then gently press the bread flat to squeeze out the excess. You don't want it squeezed dry, but you don't want it dripping with vinegar either. There's a certain balance involved.
Throw the two yolks, the garlic, the lemon juice, the bread, about 1/2 teaspoon of lemon zest, about 1/4 teaspoon of fresh ground pepper and a scant pinch of salt (kosher preferred) into your food processor. Start up the kitchen robot until everything is reduced to a more or less even paste. At that point, with the processor still running, start drizzling around 1.5 cups of olive oil down through the top. Make sure you add the oil slowly and gradually, not all at once.
You can adjust the amounts of bread and olive oil up or down to settle the consistency to where you want it to be. It ought to be somewhere between mayonnaise and sour cream. Some people like to cut the crust of the bread off and eschew the pepper because they don't like how it makes the aioli a bit darker, and that's fine. I have also tried this with roasted garlic cloves, instead of fresh, and it's delicious -- but it's much nuttier and sweeter, and calls for less vinegar.
Refridgerate the aioli before you move on to the next part.
Place a chicken breast on a heavy cutting board on a sturdy counter. Cover it with a layer of plastic wrap or wax paper, and go to town on it with a rolling pin, the flat side of a meat tenderizer or a mallet until it's around 1/4 - 1/2 inch thick (though whatever the thickness, make sure it's consistent -- you don't want a lumpy cutlet). The thicker you make them, the darker the breading will end up being. If you pound them too thick (like I did last time), you might end up with blackened breading. This isn't a big deal -- personally, I like them that way -- but most people prefer it a deep brown to golden brown, not black.
Thoroughly beat three eggs in a low, shallow dish (like a baking dish). Fill a second dish with around half an inch of flour (or cornstarch or tapioca flour) and a third with the seasoned breadcrumbs.
Dredge the cutlets first in the flour, then in the eggs, then in the breadcrumbs. Be a little stingy with the flour, unstingy with the eggs and err on the side of generousity with the breadcrumbs. Make sure that the chicken is coated thoroughly and evenly in crumbs. Add more eggs or flour or crumbs to their respective dishes as necessary.
For god's sake, don't try to return the excess flour or crumbs to the cointainer. Discard the remainder when you're done!
Heat around 1/8th to 1/4 inch of olive oil in a high-sided skillet (so that when you place a cutlet in the oil it's just a bit less than half submerged). Fry each cutlet in the oil, around 3-4 minutes a side, or until the chicken is done (but not overdone! Remember, it will continue to cook for a little while after you take it out of the fire).
Keep the cutlets covered in foil after you cook them to keep them nice and toasty.
Take half of the cooked cutlets from your meat pile and lay them on a baking sheet, then add a layer of prosciutto to each of them. Place this under a broiler or in a toaster oven for about a minute or so, just to get the prosciutto hot, them remove it and add a layer of sliced or grated provolone. Put it back under the broiler just long enough to get the cheese nice and melted, about another minute to two minutes.
Working quickly in the meantime as the cheese melts, take the other three cutlets, dress them on one side with aioli, and put down a layer of five or six (or more -- I'm not judging) fresh basil leaves and a couple of nice tomato slices.
When the cheese is melted, remove the meat-and-cheese cutlets from the broiler and place the aioli cutlets, tomato-side down, on top of them. Fix the two cutlets together with sandwich-sized toothpicks or skewers, and then divide then into two to four portions each.
Serve hot, with a side of coleslaw and sliced pickles.
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