Switching Things Around
I’ve been playing with Nitza Villapol’s Cuban version of Pollo Frito A La Milanesa. The first time I made it with the canned tomato sauce and jarred peppers called for in the recipe. It was good but a little too sweet and a touch too heavy for the summer we’ve been having. Egged on by the appearance of the Schnitzel & Things truck in my neighborhood, the other fried meat, I tried it again with fresh peppers, tomatoes and breadcrumbs. The peppers and tomatoes worked well, and I’ll make it often when a larger variety of tomatoes reach the farmer’s markets, hopefully in the next few weeks. The fresh breadcrumbs however were a disaster. The cutlets would brown unevenly and required way too much oil. I decided to do what the recipe called for in the first place and use ground Cuban crackers to bread the chicken. Though I also substituted olive oil for vegetable and replaced the whole eggs with egg whites, it was the cracker meal breading that offered the continuity from home, transforming it into the comfort food I associate with hot days. I don’t know why I argue.
hungry sofia 