Matzo Crusted Chicken

Every year we celebrate the Days of Unleavened Bread, where we remove any products that contain leavening from our homes and do not consume any leavening for the duration of the festival days which lasts for 7 days.  I made the breading for this chicken using ground up matzos and some other ingredients.  The chicken was beautifully crunchy and golden when it came out of the oven and tasted great too. Just thought i'd share this recipe- even if you're not celebrating these days, the recipe is delicious nonetheless.

Ingredients:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 box matzos
1/3 cup cornmeal
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup flour
4 tbsp. butter, melted
1 garlic clove
salt and pepper to taste

The first thing to do is turn the oven up to 375 degrees.  In a food processor, blend the matzos until you have a fine meal.  Transfer the crushed matzos to a large mixing bowl.  To the matzos, add in the Parmesan cheese, the cornmeal and a pinch of salt.  Butterfly the chicken breasts and season them with a little salt and pepper.   Add the flour to a bowl, and beat the eggs in a separate bowl.  Place the flour, egg, and matzo bowls side by side.  Begin by dredging the chicken breasts in the flour, next in the egg, and finally in the matzo mixture.  Transfer the chicken to a plate and allow them to rest for a few minutes.   While the chicken rests,  grate the garlic clove into a small saucepan and add the butter, and melt. Take out a non-stick baking sheet and lay the chicken on top of it.   You'll want to make sure that you have a non-stick baking pan, otherwise the breading will stick.  If yours isn't non-stick, you could line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.  Begin brushing the melted butter lightly on the top of the chicken, then flip them over and brush the other side with the rest of the butter.  Bake for 25 minutes or until nice and golden brown.  The chicken itself shouldn't take that long because once you butterfly the breasts, they're much thinner and cook much faster.

I served this with savory spinach pancakes, topped with yogurt sauce, roasted sweet potatoes and regular potatoes, and roasted asparagus.  I'll blog the spinach pancake recipe soon. They were awesome.