Parmesan Chicken and Roasted Romaine Salad

When looking for dinner inspiration, I turn to a lot of places.  Recently, however, Pinterest has been a serious go-to for me.  Good weeknight meals are sometimes tough to find, but when I saw this Parmesan Chicken with Caesar Roasted Romaine on Pinterest, I knew I found a good one.  

Roasted Chicken and Warm Romaine Salad

The Necessities (adapted from Bon Appetit)

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper

1/2 cup grated Parmesan

1/2 cup panko 

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided

2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley

2 garlic cloves, chopped, divided

2 large hearts of romaine, halved lengthwise

4 anchovy fillets packed in oil, drained, chopped

1 lemon, cut into 8 wedges

To begin, I preheated the oven to 450 degrees (that does take some time to warm up!).  Then I set to work by combining the panko, Parmesan, oil, parsley, salt, pepper and garlic in a small bowl and mixed it up.

All mixed up!

I then lined the baking sheet with foil and placed the chicken breasts on the sheet and then topped them with the panko mixture.  Once they were good and covered I popped them in oven for 10 minutes - until the panko started to turn a golden brown.

Breaded Chicken

While the chicken was cooking I prepped the romaine.  I first cut the romaine heads in half and drizzled some olive oil over the top.  Since I had extra breading it just seemed too perfect to top the lettuce with the panko mixture.

Prepped Salad

After the panko was golden brown (10 minutes) I pulled the baking sheet out of the oven, and added the romaine lettuce to the baking sheet and returned it to the oven and let it cook for another 5 minutes.

Cooked Chicken and Lettuce!

While it was finishing cooking, I cut up the anchovies and lemons for the garnish.

Anchovies - love the salt!

Ready to garnish!

Dinner is served!

In only about 30 minutes, we had a complete meal that was delicious to boot!  The chicken was moist and flavorful, the panko mixture added a nice bit of a crunch and herby flavor, and the garnishes offered nice salty and citrusy notes.  This warm salad was a perfect meal on a cold night.