Art Smith's Parmesan and Almond Crusted Chicken with Asparagus and Lemon Sauce

I have had this cookbook forever but as with a lot of my other ones I never cooked any of the recipes. Now that Emelie and Fred are here I figured I'd try and make them something from this book since her dad used to work with him :) It was delicious!

I started by marinating the chicken in kefir (the closest thing to filmjolk I could find). 

While that was marinating I blanched the almonds and asparagus tips in chicken broth and set aside, saving the broth. I then got started on the sauce. 

I added 2 Tbsp of butter, 4 finely chopped shallots and 4 cups of white wine in a saucepan. I let it reduce to about half and then I added the chicken broth. I brought it to a boil and again reduced it by half. Add 2 Tbsp of lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. Slowly add the heavy cream and let it simmer until it is reduced by half. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 250 F. Mix 2 cups of breadcrumbs (you are supposed to use crisp bread that you turn into bread crumbs but I went with regular bread crumbs), 2 cups of Parmesan, 1/4 cup shredded almonds (I actually used hazelnuts and it turned out really good), 4 Tbsp herbs, and salt and pepper to taste. 

Remove the chicken from the kefir, dust with flour, dip in eggs and then dip it into the bread crumb mixture. I had a special lil helper for this part :) 

Then you just sear the chicken for about 2-3 min on each side and finish them in the oven for about 8 minutes. Let the chicken rest for about 5 min before serving. Here you are supposed to add the blanched almonds to the sauce, which I totally forgot but the sauce was still very tasty.  

Parmesan and Almond Crusted Chicken Breast with Asparagus and Lemon Sauce

4 Servings (I doubled the recipe)

4 boneless chicken breasts

1 cup Kefir

2 cups chicken broth

1/4 cup blanched almonds

1 cup bread crumbs

1/4 cup shredded almonds

1 cup Parmesan cheese

2 Tbsp chopped herbs (parsley, tarragon and thyme)

salt and black pepper

1 cup all purpose flour

2 eggs, whisked

4 Tbsp olive oil

Lemon Sauce

1 msk unsalted butter

2 shallots, finely chopped

2 cups of white wine

2 Tbsp lemon juice

salt and black pepper

1 cup heavy cream

Enjoy!