macadamia chicken

while cleaning out my freezer (who knows how long those freezer-burnt waffles had been in there), i found some boneless chicken breasts and thighs left over from a previous experiment.  i had some macadamia nuts that have been sitting around for awhile, so i thought i'd see if i could combine the two and conjure up something interesting for dinner.  i have to admit that i'm pleased with how things turned out.

total prep time for this was about 5-10 minutes, and total cooking time was about 30 minutes.

ingredients:
- boneless chicken (two thighs, one breast)
- flour
- 1 egg (i used two, but for three pieces of chicken, one would be more than sufficient)
- macadamia nuts (suitably pounded/crushed/chopped)
- various seasonings (cayenne pepper, garlic powder, paprika, oregano, black pepper)
- olive oil

preparation:
there are three chicken coatings for this particular experiment.  first, mix some cayenne pepper, garlic powder, and paprika with the flour.  this will be stage one.  second, beat the egg into a bowl.  this would be stage two.  finally, crush the macadamia nuts.  in case you weren't paying attention, this would be stage eight.  i'm really not sure how best to crush macadamia nuts...my big wooden mallet didn't quite work out, so maybe it would be easier to take a knife and just chop them on a cutting board.

add olive oil to a large frying pan, and heat it to medium-high.  while the pan is pre-heating, dredge the chicken in the flour mixture, and then dip it into the egg.  coat one side with macadamia nut pieces, and place in the heated frying pan (macadamia nuts face-down).  once in the pan, coat the top side with macadamia nuts, oregano, and black pepper.  flip after 4-5 minutes.  after flipping the meat, i added a little more pepper and oregano.  i ended up having to flip a couple more time (for a total pan-sear time of 15 minutes).

i had expected the chicken to be cooked after about 8-10 minutes, but apparently it wasn't completely thawed, so i improvised after 15 minutes.  next step involved transferring the chicken to an oven-safe pan and baking at 350°F for another fifteen minutes.

verdict:
even though it took quite awhile longer than anticipated, this macadamia-encrusted chicken was worth the wait.  the crust was crispy (and not soggy), and the chicken itself turned out to be very tender and juicy.  served with steamed zucchini, a worthwhile meal was had.

on the downside, the macadamia nuts didn't really stick to the chicken very well, and i managed to scorch some of them.  maybe this would be less of a problem if i had gotten the pieces smaller.  next time, it would probably also be smarter to sear the chicken for a shorter period of time and finish it in the oven for a little longer.