My birthday this year included a very special meal with three generations of my cousins on Staten Island, N.Y. My cousin introduced me to a girl pan she uses to cook foods on her stove top in a very healthy way. She made me chicken cutlets that day that I loved.
I planned to buy a grill pan for my house but recently my in-laws gave me one along with their magnificent outdoor gas five-burner grill. I decided to try to duplicate my cousin’s chicken meal.
Since we didn’t have cutlets handy, I cut two rather large chicken breasts in half length-wise and then pounded them down further so they were thin and would cook quickly on the grill.
I sprayed the pan with olive oil to prevent sticking and placed it over two burners of my stove which I had on high. I covered the chicken with a salt-free spice mixture from the Spice House, our local spice store that does some wonderful things with spices. The mixture I used was supposed to have a French flair to it.
The chicken cooked quickly (I turned it once) and was much juicier than baked white meat chicken ever comes from me. I served it with green beans and a salt-free barbecue sauce from LocalFolks, a brand I’ve come to rely on for its low-salt ketchup too.
The one drawback to the meal was that my kitchen exhaust fan was able to vent the cooking quickly enough, I had to open my kitchen window to get the smoke out. Maybe less oil, or not using any (the pan is supposed to be non-stick, I just never trust those) would have helped.
I loved the meal though and will definitely use the pan again. One side has grilling ridges, the other is flat.
John