Jolene Eats Here: Charlie Trotter's Panko And Ginger Crusted Chicken With Stir Fried Vegetables And Sweet And Sour Mustard Sauce

This fast and delicious recipe is from Charlie Trotter's cookbook, Home Cooking with Charlie Trotter. It was featured in the Gourmet December 2008 issue, on page 58. I thought this dish was so easy to make, but yet it looked and tasted like something you'd get at an upscale Asian fusion restaurant.

The panko adds a light crunch to the chicken breast, similar to what you'd get in fried chicken but without all the grease. The honey mustard sauce complimented the chicken and vegetables perfectly. I used dijon mustard instead of the Chinese mustard the recipe calls for, and I left out the water chestnuts and bean sprouts.

Serves 4

Sauce

1/2 cup honey

1/4 cup Chinese mustard

2 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar

Chicken

4 Boneless, skinless chicken breast

2 cups Panko Bread Crumbs

2 Tablespoons peeled and minced fresh ginger

1 egg (lighly beate)

2 Tablespoons canola oil

Vegetables

2 Tablespoons canola oil

1 Tablepoons peeled and mince fresh ginger

2 cups coarsley chopped bok choy

1/2 cup juliened leeks (white part only)

1/2 cup sliced water chestnuts

1 cup bean sprouts

Prepare sauce: Combine the honey, mustard and vinegar in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes or until warm.

Chicken: Cut each breast lengthwise into 4 strips and season with salt and pepper. Combine the panko bread crumbs and grated ginger in a shallow dish. Dip each chicken strip in the egg and coat with panko mixture. Heat the canola oil in a large saute pan over medium heat and add the chicken strips. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Remove from the panand drain on paper towel.

Prepare the Vegetables: Heat the canola oil in a large saute pan over medium heat.

Add the ginger and cook for 30 seconds. Add the bok choy, leeks and water chestnuts and cook, stirring for 3 minutes. Add the bean sprouts and cook for 2 minutes or until the vegetable are just tender.

Spoon some of the vegetable in the center of each plate. Arrange the chicken over the vegetables and drizzle the sauce over the chicken and around the plate.