Cornmeal Crusted Chicken with Kale Pesto
By: Angela LeMoine
Published: Thursday, September 19, 2013 - 6:52pm

Ingredients




1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 cup cornmeal
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 egg, lightly beaten
for the pesto:
1 bunch of kale, thick end of stems removed
1/4 cup grated pecorino romano
4 cloves garlic
1/3 cup unsalted almonds
approx 1/4 cup olive oil

Preparation

1 Place the chicken breasts between two pieces of plastic wrap and pound thin. 2 Coat the chicken first in the egg then into the cornmeal seasoned with the garlic powder, salt and pepper. Heat a saute pan over medium/ medium high heat, add enough olive oil to coat the bottom and cook the chicken on each side until golden and the chicken is cooked through. 3 For the pesto add the kale, cheese, garlic and almonds into a food processor. Pulse a few times to begin to break the ingredients down. With the machine on, drizzle in enough olive oil to just make it come together. Taste, season with salt and pepper. 4 This is a decent sized batch so place into a mason jar and top with a little extra olive oil to keep the extra in the fridge. 5 Top each chicken breast with a nice dollop of the kale pesto. 6 *it is not recommended to eat raw kale more then once of twice a week if you have a thyroid condition and not recommended for people of blood thinners because of the high vitamin k content*

About

The health benefits of dark leafy greens, like kale are undeniable! It supposedly is one of the healthiest vegetables on the planet! "One cup of chopped kale contains 33 calories and 9% of the daily value of calcium, 206% of vitamin A, 134% of vitamin C, and a whopping 684% of vitamin K. It is also a good source of minerals copper, potassium, iron, manganese, and phosphorus." (webmd.com).
Heres the thing, i'm not a huge fan because it can me a bit on the tough side. I keep the kale raw* in this recipe. Just like a traditional pesto theres the cheese, garlic, nuts and olive oil. The flavors worked wonderfully with the cornmeal crusted chicken breasts. The lightly seasoned cornmeal has a slightly nutty taste to it and makes for a nice crisp coating! 
I served mine with some roasted carrots and homemade chips.