The Impatient Chef Recipe: Chicken Schnitzel with Spaetzle and Mushroom Gravy

 

There is something about a mushroom gravy that just makes everything bad in the world go away for a short time.  The Impatient Chef has some German ancestry, and spent a couple of years there in the 1980's, and so retains some affinity for food that goes well with beer. 

There is really no better example of German cooking than the schnitzel, whether it be chicken or jager, and a side of spaetzle.  Sure, if you lived in Idar Oberstein, you would think that Speisbraten was the pinnacle of German cooking.  If you lived in Hamburg, or Frankfurt, you probably wouldn't think the hamburgers or frankfurters were the best, but you may like sauerbraten.  If you lived in Berlin, you may like ein Berliner.  John F. Kennedy called himself ein Berliner, not knowing that putting "ein" in front of "Berliner" makes him not a resident of Berlin, but rather, a jelly donut.  JFK called himself a jelly donut when he said "Ich bin ein Berliner" all those years ago.  Berliners loved him for that.  

The Impatient Chef makes a couple of impatient choices for ingredients that don't affect deliciousness.  These are store-bought spaetzle, and mushroom bouillon.  

Special tools:

• A kitchen mallet.
• A deep fryer, or a large dutch oven for frying.  
• 3 pie plates for breading.

Ingredients: 

• 2 half chicken breasts, boneless and skinless, and beaten flat with a kitchen mallet
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup flour, and 6 tbsp flour for roux
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tsp mushroom bouillon (Better Than Bouillon works best)
• 5 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp grapeseed oil (or another neutral oil)
• 4 large crimini mushrooms
• 1/2 tsp MSG (yes, The Impatient Chef dares to use this ingredient)
• 2 cups dry spaetzle.  

Directions:

In a stock pot, heat water for boiling spaetzel.  Prepare and turn on the fryer, or put peanut oil into a dutch oven, and heat to 360 degrees F.  If you are using a dutch oven, take extra care not to fill it too far.  These breasts will make the oil level rise a surprising amount.  

While the water and oil are heating, divide the half chicken breasts again in half, and lay on some butcher paper, or wax paper.  Lay some plastic wrap over it, and pound the chicken breasts with a kitchen mallet.  Use the tenderizing end of the mallet.  Make them about 1/4" thick.  They can be thicker, but they will get even thicker in the fryer.  You want them to be fairly thin.  

Place 3 pie plates side by side on a table.  In the one on the left, put 1/3 cup four.  In the center one, beat the egg, and in the right one, put the bread crumbs, and a pinch of salt and pepper.  Coat the breasts in flour, egg, and then the bread crumbs.  Lay them out on a tray with a wire rack on it.  

When the water boils, add the spaetzel, and stir to keep them from sticking.  Stir occasionally while doing the rest of the recipe.  

Slice the mushrooms.  Melt 2 tbsp butter in a sauce pan, add the grapeseed oil, and sauté the mushrooms  with a 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper until tender and fragrant.  Add 1 1/2 cups water, MSG, the bouillon.  Bring to a boil on medium heat while you make the roux.

To make the roux, melt 3 tbsp butter on medium low heat, and add 6 tbsp cup flour.  Stir often for 5 minutes, then add 1/4 cup water.  Stir until it is absorbed, and then add the last 1/4 cup.  Stir until it is absorbed.  Add roux to the mushroom broth, lower heat, and bring slowly to a boil.  

While the gravy is heating, add chicken to the fryer.  Make sure it is up to temperature first.  If you have timed it right, everything should be done around the same time.  Fry the chicken until golden brown, with an internal temperature of 165 degrees F.  Remove from oil.  

Drain the spaetzel when it is soft.  Serve with spaetzel on the side.  Ladle mushroom gravy over both.  Serves 4.