One food kept coming up as I browsed for menu items for our Fourth of July picnic on Friday: Fried Chicken. So, how was I going to make it vegetarian? And would it be good? I made up a recipe…based on some things I’ve done before…and my imagination. Well…the verdict is that it *was* good.

Here’s what we ended up having:

• Fried Chik’n (Vegetarian Gardein Chikn)
• Corn on the Cob with Parmesan, Lime & Chili
• Sweet Potato Salad
• Fruit Tartlets

So here’s how to make veggie fried chikn. It’s shallow fried. This is one of the first times I’ve fried something in a long time.

Ingredients

• 6 Gardein Chik’n Scallopini cutlets, cut in half
• 1/2 cup almond meal
• 2 T flax meal
• 1 T coconut shreds
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup barbeque sauce of your choice (we used “Global Warming” by Rocklands, a DC-based company making a tamarind chipotle sauce).
• 6 Parmesan crisps, crushed up (you could substitute corn flakes, crackers, anything crispy)
• canola or other oil
• 1 T parsley chopped
• salt and pepper to taste

The Method

1. Cut cutlets in half. dry off with a paper towel
2. Crack an egg and beat it. add chopped parsley to it. add a little salt and pepper to the mix
3. Crush up the Parmesan crisps–you want to be able to coat the cutlets with them but you want them to have some texture–not be a fine powder. I pounded them with a mortar & pestle. Place them on a flat plate
4. Mix up almond flour, coconut flakes, and flax on a flat plate
5. Pour bbq sauce onto a 3rd plate
6. Lay out a another plate for the finished cutlets
7. Dip a cutlet in egg mixture.  Dredge it through the almond/flax/coconut mixture. Dip it in bbq sauce, and then lastly in the Parmesan crisps. Set aside
8. When you have several prepared, heat a shallow layer of oil, perhaps 1-2 inches deep in a skillet. Heat the oil until it sizzles.
9. Carefully put the cutlets into the oil. They may spatter so put them in gently and immediately cover
10. Cook about 1-2 minutes on each side. I found that they got a little dark after even a minute and a half.
11. Lay out on paper towels.
12. When they have cooled a bit, brush on a little more barbeque sauce
13. We ended up serving these room temp, but served hot, or reheated in an oven would be even better.