Baked Fried Chicken With Cauliflower Mash

Photo: Active Foodie

Ingredients

Chicken (Baked chicken recipe adapted from Epicurious.com)

Marinade:

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

3 tablespoons Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 garlic cloves, pressed

1 teaspoon Paprika

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Salt and pepper

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast

Breading:

1 1/2 cups whole wheat panko

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

6 tablespoons flour

1 tablespoon minced thyme

2 teaspoons lemon peel

1 1/2 teaspoons dry mustard

1 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Salt and pepper

Olive oil spray (like PAM)

Cauliflower Mash

2 heads of cauliflower

1/4 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup low fat sour cream

1/4 cup low fat ricotta

Salt and pepper

Preparation

For marinade:

Fillet chicken breast in half to make thinner pieces, and cut in half again to make smaller pieces.

Whisk all marinade ingredients (except for the chicken) in large bowl.

Add chicken and coat in marinade.

Chill overnight for more intense flavor. But if you are short on time (which I usually am) it is ok to use right away as well.

For breading:

Preheat to 450°F

Mix breading ingredients large bowl. Place wire rack on baking sheets. Remove chicken breast from bowl and place in coating mixture. Transfer to rack. Repeat with remaining chicken breasts.- Place chicken breasts on rack and spray with olive oil .

Bake chicken 20 minutes or until coating is browned and instant-read thermometer registers 155°F.

For Cauliflower:

Cut up cauliflower in small pieces.

Place in large sauté pan with about 1 cup of water (enough to cover the bottom of pan, plus a little extra to make sure it doesn't all evaporate)

Cook until tender.

Combine cauliflower with buttermilk, sour cream, ricotta and salt and pepper.

In batches, place in blender and puree until smooth. (if it is having a hard time blending, add either some chicken or vegetable stock, or even more buttermilk)