Chicken schnitzel with Caesar mayo

Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: 8 minutes

Serves 1

This recipe makes more mayonnaise than you need for one meal, but it’s impossible to do it with less than one egg yolk. You just need to think about what else you can use the mayo for in the days after you make it. It’s good in a chicken sandwich, obviously, or with fish, and I love it with roast tomatoes and jammy eggs on good toast.

The dish is also good for two – just double the quantities for the chicken but leave the mayonnaise recipe as it is.

INGREDIENTS For the mayonnaise

– 1 egg yolk

– ½ tsp Dijon mustard – 1 anchovy fillet,

very finely chopped – 10g Parmesan, grated – 2 tsp lemon juice, or

to taste

– a tiny amount of garlic – 125ml olive oil (not extra-virgin)

For the chicken

– 2 chicken thigh fillets – 50g plain flour,

seasoned

– 1 egg, lightly beaten – 50g white breadcrumbs – 1 tbsp groundnut or

olive oil

– dressed baby leaves,

to serve

– a wedge of lemon,

to serve

METHOD

To make the mayonnaise, put the egg yolk, mustard, anchovy, Parmesan and lemon juice in a bowl and mix together. Finely grate the tip of a clove of garlic so that it’s puréed. Add this.

Mix these ingredients together with an electric hand beater and slowly beat in the oil, a drop at a time. Don’t add the next drop of oil until the previous one has been incorporated. The mixture will become thicker as you add the oil. Taste, season and add more lemon juice if you need to. This will keep in the fridge for five days.

Spread the chicken thigh fillets out on a piece of baking parchment and put another piece of parchment on top. Bash the chicken with a rolling pin until both pieces are of an even thickness – about 3mm – but don’t do it so violently that the chicken starts to tear.

Set out three broad, shallow bowls, one for the flour, one for the egg and one for the breadcrumbs. Season the thighs then dip each one in the flour, then the egg, then the breadcrumbs, putting them on a plate when you’ve coated them.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Cook the thighs over a medium heat for four minutes on each side.

Serve the schnitzel with dressed baby leaves, a wedge of lemon and the mayonnaise.