Sesame-Crusted Chicken Paillards with Seaweed Salad
Most folks overcook grilled chicken breast, but it's not really their fault. The cut is too lean to stand up to lengthy cooking and too thick to cook through quickly—paillard to the rescue. A paillard (which means "ribald" or "bawdy" in French) is a boneless slice of meat pounded thin enough and wide enough to practically cover the surface of a large dinner plate. Because they are so thin, paillards grill through in seconds, so they are one of the quickest grilled meals one can imagine. They also look striking, flopping across a plate like an edible doily. In this recipe the lightness of the paillards is reinforced by a spare seaweed and cucumber salad with a Japanese-style vinaigrette.
Ingredients
Makes 4 servings
Step 1
Combine the rice vinegar, sugar, and chile in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved, about 3 minutes. Remove the chile and discard. Stir in soy sauce and set aside to cool.
Step 2
Cover the dried wakame with warm water in a medium bowl and soak for 5 minutes. Drain, squeeze dry, and set aside in a medium serving bowl.
Step 3
Scoop out the seeds from each cucumber half with a small spoon and slice each cucumber half thinly. Sprinkle the salt over the sliced cucumbers and gently knead with your hands until the cucumber slices release their water, about 3 minutes. Transfer the to a clean kitchen towel, wrap the towel around the cucumbers, and squeeze out as much water as possible. Add to the bowl with the wakame.
Step 4
Add the radishes, cilantro, and scallions to the wakame and cucumbers. Add half the rice vinegar mixture and 2 tablespoons of the sesame seeds. Toss to combine, and refrigerate until serving.
Step 5
Light a grill for direct high heat, about 500°F.
Step 6
Coat the chicken breast halves with the sesame oil and the remaining 6 tablespoons sesame seeds. Place one of the breast halves on a large sheet of plastic wrap, season it with salt and pepper, top with another sheet of plastic wrap, and pound until uniformly 1/16 inch thick and the approximate diameter of a dinner plate. Set aside. Repeat with the remaining breast halves, using fresh sheets of plastic for each one.
Step 7
Brush the grill grate and coat liberally with oil. Remove the plastic wrap from one side of 2 of the flattened breasts and place them on the grill so that they are spread out flat. The easiest way to do this is to support it from the plastic-wrapped side with your open hand and flip it onto the grill. Immediately lift off the sheets of plastic wrap. Grill until the chicken looks opaque at the edge, about 30 seconds. Flip with a spatula and grill 15 seconds on the other side. Remove to a platter, cover to keep warm, and repeat with the other 2 chicken breast halves.
Step 8
Serve each paillard spread out flat on a dinner plate; it should nearly cover the entire serving surface of the plate. Drizzle the remaining rice vinegar mixture over the paillards, and place a large mound of seaweed salad in the center of each one.
