DUKKAH-SPICED SCHNITZEL WITH HERB & FENNEL SALAD

From Last Minute Dinner Party

Serves 4 Prep 15 mins Cook 30 mins

4 x 140g boneless chicken breasts, skin-on

3 tbsp all-purpose flour 2 eggs, beaten

8 tbsp panko breadcrumbs

3 tbsp Dukkah (below) Canola or olive oil, for drizzling

1 generous handful of herbs

1 handful of dill pickles, chopped if large

½ head of fennel, very finely sliced

Juice of ½ lemon

1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

Salt and black pepper

Dukkah

100g blanched hazelnuts

130g slivered almonds 5 tbsp sesame seeds 1½ tbsp coriander seeds 1½ tbsp cumin seeds 3 tsp flaky sea salt

Iwould always advise avoiding a last-minute frying session when cooking for a crowd, which is where this sheet-pan schnitzel becomes a winner. You can crumb coat the chicken up to a day ahead and let it chill in the fridge before cooking. If you are eating it straight away, preheat the oven to 200C.

Method 1

Remove the skin from the chicken and place the skin on a small baking sheet, sprinkle with salt, and bake in the oven for 10 minutes, or until crisp. Set the skin aside. Sandwich the chicken breasts between 2 pieces of baking parchment and, using a rolling pin, bash them to about 5mm thick. Add the flour seasoned with salt to a large plate, then add the eggs to another, and finally, add the panko breadcrumbs mixed with the dukkah to a third.

2 Drizzle a large sheet pan (or two, you don’t want them snugly together or they won’t crisp) with canola oil and heat in the oven. Dredge the pieces of chicken in the flour, then coat in the eggs, then coat in the crumbs. Carefully remove the sheet pan from the oven and add the chicken, leaving lots of space between them to crisp. Cook for 10 minutes, then turn over and cook for another 10 minutes, or until the outside is golden and crisp and the chicken is cooked through.

3 Add the herbs to a salad bowl, then add the pickles and fennel, and dress with the lemon juice and extra-virgin olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Chop the reserved chicken skin and sprinkle over the top. Serve the schnitzel with the salad on the side.

Dukkah 1

Preheat the oven to 150C. Spread the hazelnuts over a baking sheet and toast for 10 minutes or until golden. Add the slivered almonds after 5 minutes. Decant them into a bowl.

2 Toast sesame seeds in a dry pan until lightly golden, then add to nuts. Put the coriander and cumin seeds in the same pan and toast for 1 minute, or until fragrant. Add to the bowl. Pulse or bash half the mixture in a food processor or mortar and pestle, then return it to the bowl, with salt, and mix together. This is an edited extract from Last Minute Dinner Party by Frankie Unsworth: Hardie Grant Books.

Photography: Lisa Linder