I know I know, yet another Nigella recipe but this one is combined with a Claire K original but it's more of an idea than a recipe. Last week at the butcher I saw chicken schnitzel, something I hadn't had for ages. I had that week's meals planned out so made a mental note that I'd get some for dinner the following week. In that time I saw Nigella make her ritzy chicken nuggets. They looked so simple and gave me the opportunity to use up the rest of a packet of jatz from the cupboard. So nuggets, not schnitzel it was. I served them with my easy bean and bacon bundles and fancy purple potatoes I found at the markets the day before.
The chicken needs to be prepared at least a few hours before and the night before is even better. Smash it out with a meat mallet (or rolling pin) then cut it into chunks. Marinate the chicken in milk and lemon juice (or buttermilk) until baking time. To make the crumb, place the crackers in a double bag and bash them until they are nice and crumbly. As Nigella says, it's strangely satisfying whacking those poor little biccies.
To make the nuggets, shake off the milk and them dip them in the crumbs and coat all the sides.
Place the nuggets on a lined oven tray ready for the oven.
Here are mine with the fancy purple potatoes. They're a very waxy potato and quite delicious. Bake them both at 180C for about 20 minutes or until the chicken is golden and cooked through.
To make the bacon and bean bundles, plunge the beans into boiling water and then take them out and place them in iced water. Wrap them in little strips of bacon.
The toothpick is probably not entirely necessary but mine fell apart without them. Cook the bundles in a fry pan until the bacon is browned.
Serve it all up together with some tomato sauce. Enjoy!
Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 large skinless chicken breast fillet
- ⅓ of a packet of Jatz crackers or similar
- 1 cup of milk mixed with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or use 1 cup of buttermilk
- 15 long green beans trimmed and cut in half
- 3 pieces of rind-free short-cut bacon
- other vegetables to serve - I used purple potatoes
Instructions
- Bash a chicken fillet out until it is quite thin then cut into chunks. I got 10 chunks from one large breast. Marinate the chicken in the milk and lemon juice in the fridge for at least 3 hours.
- Double bag the crackers and bash them until they are crumbly.
- Pre-heat the oven to 180C (356F) fan-forced and line a baking tray with baking paper.
- Shake excess milk from the chicken pieces and dip them in the crumbs until they are coated.
- Bake them for approximately 20 minutes.
- To make the bean bundles, blanch the beans in boiling water then quickly into iced water. Wrap 5 beans at a time in a strip of bacon then cook them in a frying pan until the bacon is cooked.
- Serve it up with baked potatoes.
Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella says
These have so got to be so much better than other nuggets which I call mystery nuggets because it's hard to tell what is in them! :P
Claire says
When I was little, before maccas introduced they're 'breast' nuggets I used to break them open and only eat the white ones. Usually I got to eat at least 3 of my 6.