Cotoletta alla Palermitana

Every once in a while, I stumble onto a simple recipe that becomes an instant favorite. My yogurt-marinated kebabs and matzo-breaded scotch eggs were somewhat recent examples. Readers certainly know I'm a fan of schnitzels and all their international cousins. I happened upon cotoletta alla palermitana a few years ago reading a Wikipedia article about cutlets. In Italian, the name essentially means a Palermo-style cutlet. I had never eaten it, never heard of it, and certainly never been to Palermo. At first glance, a breaded, grilled cutlet sounds a little strange. Very little is written about it in English, so I read a few Google-translated recipes and tucked the idea away.

Fast forward to a several weeks ago. We had recently arrived in Vermillion, and I had just equipped myself with a new Weber grill. 

I decided to give the cotoletta alla palermitana a go, and it was a revelation. Think of it as a lighter and easier version of the more familiar wienerschnitzel or cotoletta alla milanese. No messing around with oil frying or egg washes, just throw it on the grill. The crunch isn't quite the same as a fried cutlet, but the grill still browns the coating nicely. I make it with boneless, skinless chicken thighs, but I am confident chicken breasts, pork loin, or veal chops would all do well with this preparation. Still, it's hard to beat the juiciness of the chicken thigh (as Jacques Pépin says, the best part of the chicken).

I've been having fun with the farm share boxes and figuring out what to do with everything. I served the cutlets with a ratatouille of onion, zucchini, garlic, and tomato from the farm box and eggplant and parsley from our garden. I sautéed the ingredients separately and let it simmer together, covered, while I prepared the cutlets.

Ingredients

• 2 lb. boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 6 pieces)
• Salt
• Black pepper
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 cup breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 sprig fresh parsley
• 1/2 lemon

Note this is actually more breadcrumbs than I needed, but I would rather not get too low while I am dredging. You could probably cut it down to about 2/3 of what I had and be fine.

Instructions

Preheat grill before preparing the chicken.

Put a piece of plastic wrap over the chicken and pound with the flat side of a meat hammer or a soup can. Pound to about 1/3 inch thick. Getting them very thin is less important than getting them to an even thickness. You can trim off any large pieces of fat before breading.

Season both sides with salt and pepper. Pour out the olive oil into a dish and generously brush both sides of the chicken with the oil. In a shallow bowl, mix the breadcrumbs, cheese, and oregano. Press each piece of chicken into the breadcrumbs, flip, and coat the other side.

Grill the chicken on high heat, placing the cutlets directly on the flame. Cook until browned on both sides and cooked through, flipping occasionally to get even browning. As the cutlets are relatively thin, I leave the cover open.

When done, chop the parsley and slice the lemon into wedges. Sprinkle parsley on the cutlets and serve with lemon wedges.