Recipe(tried): Breaded Chicken Cutlets With Sage, Chicken with Herbed Goat Cheese, and Brown Rice with Mushrooms, Green Onions, Red Pepper and Garlic

DH and I enjoyed Martha Stewart's Chicken Cutlets with Sage, and the Brown Rice for dinner one night. The next day, we had the remaining chicken in sandwiches, for lunch. Since I had a lot of the Brown Rice left over, I decided to try Ina Garten's recipe for Chicken with Herbed Goat Cheese. Both recipes were just yummy. I have to say that Ina Garten's recipe was one of the easiest I have made in a long time, and it resulted in very moist and flavorful chicken. I served both chicken dishes with a green vegetable and green salad, as well as with the rice.

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Breaded Chicken Cutlets With Sage
From Martha Stewart
Serves 4

To fry sage leaves for garnish, place them in hot oil until they start to curl, about three seconds; remove with a slotted spoon.

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken cutlets (8 to 10 pieces), pounded about 1/4 inch thick, if needed
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce, such as Tabasco
2 cups plain dried breadcrumbs (about 8 ounces)
1/3 cup finely chopped fresh sage, plus fried leaves for garnish
Vegetable oil, for frying

Preheat oven to 200 degrees F. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Stir buttermilk, hot sauce, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a medium bowl. Add chicken; turn to coat well. Let marinate for about 15 minutes. Stir breadcrumbs and sage in another bowl; set aside.

Heat about 1 inch oil in a large skillet until it reaches 365 degrees F on a deep-fry thermometer. Working with 1 cutlet at a time, transfer chicken from the buttermilk mixture to the breadcrumb mixture, coating both sides completely. Gently place in the hot oil. Cook, turning halfway through with tongs, until crisp and dark golden, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a rack or paper towels to drain. Transfer to a baking sheet, and put in oven to keep warm. Remove any bits of coating from skillet with a slotted spoon, and discard before adding more chicken. Repeat with remaining chicken. Garnish with fried leaves.

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Chicken with Herbed Goat Cheese
Recipe from Ina Garten
Yield: 6 servings

3 whole (6 split) chicken breasts, bone-in, skin-on
12 ounces Montrachet goat cheese, with garlic and herbs
Fresh basil leaves
Good olive oil
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Place the chicken breasts on a baking sheet. Loosen the skin from the meat with your fingers, leaving one side attached.. Cut 12 thick slices of the Montrachet and place 2 slices plus a large basil leaf under the skin of each chicken breast. Rub each piece with olive oil and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Bake the breasts for 35 to 40 minutes, until just cooked through. Serve hot or at room temperature.

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Brown Rice with Mushrooms, Green Onions, Red Pepper and Garlic
(I came up this recipe from two of Uncle Ben's recipes.)

1 c. brown rice, uncooked
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 c. chopped green onions
1, 8 oz. package sliced, crimini (baby bella) mushrooms
2 tablespoon diced red pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
2 1/4 c. chicken broth
2 tablespoons chopped, fresh parsley

Cook rice according to package directions using chicken broth for the liquid.

While the rice is cooking, saute onion, red pepper, and garlic in butter and olive oil until tender but not brown.

Coarsely chop half (4 oz.) of the mushrooms, leaving the remainder in slices. Add the mushrooms to the onion, red pepper and garlic mixture and saute until tender.

Stir the vegetable mixture, and parsley into the hot, cooked rice.