Chicken Katsu Nuggets - MAYO!

My kids love chicken nuggets just as much the next kid and my father is known to indulge them by taking them to McDonalds...So I choose to control what they eat at home as much as I can (within reason and within my means!). Things I focus on - organic eggs and chicken, milk from cows not treated with Rbst, produce from the US (local as much as possible - good luck finding bananas) and I limit their soy intake (I'm cool with miso soup & soy sauce...for crying out loud they are half-Japanese!).

Back to the Chicken Katsu Nuggets -

Inspired by Thomas Keller's Braised Breast of Veal from The French Laundry Cookbook, I have been making chicken katsu with a condiment for the last 10 years...He used Dijon mustard with panko...I use mayonnaise. Which made sense to me, mayo is made from eggs and oil so it seemed like it should work and work it did! Best Foods is my mayo of choice!

So for these little morsels photographed above, I start with organic chicken breasts and cut them (with scissors) into bite-sized pieces. I cover them with a thin layer of mayonnaise, salt & pepper. I coat the pieces with panko and pan fry in oil (I've been using Grapeseed oil lately, but have been known to use canola, peanut or olive oil.). When the chicken is brown on all sides, I remove to a sheet pan with a rack.

That's it...I try to make enough for lunch boxes the next day...Tonight this was served with a big bowl of udon and a side of hot house vine-ripened tomatoes.