Dinner on the deck with a cool, dry breeze... healthy, comforting food... a great bottle of wine... string lights and candles going... perfect. And just to celebrate this perfect scene, you - my friends - are going to get 2 recipes in one post! I would list the salad as a recipe, but I don't want to overload you in one post. In that picture above, you'll see we have Gluten Free Baked Chicken Tenderloins and Pesto Polenta. On the side is a beautiful salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, fennel, basil and flat leaf parsely - dressed lightly with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Delish. And now, onto the recipes... easier one first:
Pesto Polenta
1 cup Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Corn Grits (Polenta)
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups milk (1% or 2% to make it creamy)
1/4 - 1/3 cup pesto (we made our own, but you can use store bought or use your favorite pesto recipe)
This was such an easy concept and I can't believe it took us this long to put 2 +2 together. Polenta always starts the same way, and it's a 3:1 ratio of liquid to dry polenta. I always mix the liquid with 1/2 chicken broth and 1/2 milk.... the broth gives it flavor and the milk helps make the polenta richer and creamier. So bring the liquid to a boil, then add the polenta slowly - whisking as you add it in. Lower the heat and continue to stir/whisk until the polenta begins to mass up and thicken. When it thickens to a creamy, porridge-like consistency, take it off the heat and add the pesto. Whisk it together and watch the green specks from the pesto spread throughout the polenta. The smell is wonderful and it tastes amazing together. As an added bonus, we made our pesto with basil, oregano and marjoram from the garden - this is zipped together in the food processor with lightly toasted pine nuts, a clove of garlic, grated parmigiano reggiano and olive oil. It's a pretty standard pesto recipe, but I like to mix in other fresh green herbs besides basil to give it a deeper flavor (and use some of those herbs that are growing wildly on the deck). And now onto the co-star of the meal:
Gluten Free Baked Chicken Tenderloins
approximately 12-14 chicken tenderloin pieces (I used the frozen packs from CostCo, and I think they had about 6-7 in each serving package)
kosher salt and black pepper to taste
extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup gluten free flour blend, for dredging
2 eggs, lightly beaten with a few tablespoons of milk
1 cup Betty Crocker Potato Buds
1/2 T garlic powder
1/2 T paprika
1/2 T poultry seasoning
1/4 cup grated parmigiano reggiano
1 T dried rosemary
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. First, season the chicken tenders liberally with salt & pepper. Then prepare the dredging and coating assembly line - whisk together the GF flour and some kosher salt in a shallow bowl - beat up the eggs with some milk in another shallow bowl - then whisk together the Potato Buds, garlic powder, paprika, poultry seasoning, grated cheese, rosemary and salt & pepper to taste in another shallow bowl. Using tongs, coat each piece of chicken in the flour mixture, shaking off the excess. Then dip into the egg mixture and coat with the Potato Bud mixture. (Here's a hint, when you get to the last few tenders, if you have a lot of coating left then do a double dip - dip in the egg again then the coating again and you get a nice, thick layer of the potato mixture. Arrange the chicken tenders on a large baking sheet and drizzle each one with olive oil. Bake the chicken tenders for a total of about 25-30 minutes, flipping them at the halfway point so they get evenly brown and crispy.
The Potato Buds are an excellent gluten free substitute for a bread crumb coating on baked or fried chicken cutlets or tenders. The key to getting it really brown is adding some cheese into the mixture too. I can't tell you how much we enjoyed this meal and I hope that you'll give it a try.
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