Breaded Chicken on Spinach with a Balsamc Dressing

This is a dish I came up with for dinner. It's a simple salad style dish with a smal twist, the only oil used is in making the breaded chicken, the rest of the frying is done with the fat from the chicken itself, which helps to flavour everything.


5 chicken drumsticks and thighs with skin
150g spinach
1-2 eggs
150g plain flour
300g bread, left out overnight uncovered
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
12 cherry tomatoes on the vine
200ml balsamic vinegar
sunflower oil
1 pepper, quartered
Cress to garnish
salt and pepper to season


Step 1
Place the chicken skin side down into a frying pan over a low heat, leaving room between the chicken. Once some fat has been rendered from the chicken turn up to a medium heat, turn the chicken every 5-10 minutes for about 30 minutes. Once the chicken has turned pale all over remove from the pan with a slotted spoon, fry any remaining chicken and keep the pan witht he juices. Since the aim here is to get the fat out of the chicken and to make the chicken easier to remove from the bone, as it will be fried later it can be undercooked. Meanwhile place the bread into a food processor/blender and reduce to crumbs. Place the breadcrumbs into a medium sized food bag, and into another food bag place the flour and some salt and pepper.


Step 2
Allow the chicken time to cool, then remove the meat from the bone and skin, either discard the bone or keep for stock and place the skin back in the frying pan with the juices. When removing the meat use your fingers to tear the meat, trying to keep the pieces bite sized. Break the two eggs into a bowl and lightly beat them. Into a deep frying pan place about 1/2 inch of sunflower oil and put on a high heat.Lightly coat the chicken pieces in beaten egg and place into the bag with the flour and shake, then transfer across to the bag of breadcrumbs and shake again. Then transfer to the deep frying pan and cook until crispy and golden, turning to get a good golden crunch all over. Once cooked, remove the chicken from the pan and place onto a plate covered with kitchen paper to drain.


Step 3
Meanwhile heat the frying pan containing the chicken skins on a medium-high heat. Squash the skin down with a spatula or spoon in order to get the most of the fat out of the skins, then remove them with a slotted spoon and discard. Either open a window or use an extractor fan at this stage, and start adding the vinegar, sugar and seasoning and sitr with a spoon or mix with a whisk. Reduce the vinegar a little to thicken the dressing, then add the cherry tomatoes, still on the vine, and a few spinach leaves before removing from the heat.


Step 4
Place the remaining spinach leaves on a plate and top with the breaded chicken pieces. Arrange the cherry tomatoes, the quartered pepper, then drizzle the dressing over before scattering the cress. Serve imediately.



This dish can be served with the chicken hot or cold, but the dressing needs to be served hot as it contains chicken fat, which would thicken if cold. Use sunflower oil to get the best crispness out of the breaded chicken as it has a higher boiling point than some other cooking oils. To add some spice to the dish you can add paprika or other spices to the flour. Spinach is just one of the leaves that can be used here, for a change you can use watercress, or any other salad leaf. You can also leave out the spinach leaves from in the dressing, and reduce it down more so it is more of a glaze than a dressing.