Easiest. Dinner. Ever.

Having been away all weekend, we didn't get around to grocery shopping. And therefore, our fridge is pretty empty (again). I really hate grocery shopping after work, so I decided to make do with what I could find in the freezer and pantry today. It wasn't much, but with a little creativity (or perhaps ingenuity?), I whipped up a super delicious and FAST dinner!

I happened to have some chicken cutlets in the freezer, some parsley-lemon mafaldine (a ribbon pasta with wavy edges) that I picked up when we were at the strawberry festival, and a half-tub of ricotta sitting in the fridge. And so I came up with ...

Chicken Cutlets with Mafaldine and Ricotta
Ingredients:
1/2 lb. mafaldine pasta
6 chicken cutlets
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup flour
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup milk
1 cup bread crumbs
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1/2 cup ricotta
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, minced
Squeeze lemon juice
2 tablespoons Romano cheese, grated

Directions:
Boil pasta. Meanwhile, heat oil over medium heat in a large skillet.

Combine flour with a few grinds of salt and pepper in a shallow dish. Place milk in a second shallow dish. Combine breadcrumbs with Italian seasoning in a third shallow dish. Working one at a time, dredge chicken cutlets in flour, dip in milk (I would have used eggs, but my refrigerator really is empty!), then coat in breadcrumbs.

Working in batches, carefully lay cutlets in hot oil. Fry, about 1 to 2 minutes on each side, until cooked through and crisp. Remove to paper towel-lined plate.

In the bottom of a medium bowl, combine ricotta, rosemary and lemon juice. Place drained pasta in bowl and toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper. Plate pasta with chicken and top the whole dish with Romano cheese. Savor!