Springy chicken paillard

With blistered tomatoes, mozzarella, and a drinkable dijon balsamic dressing

Hello! Welcome back! Skip all the rambling and scroll right to the bottom of this post for a printer-friendly PDF of the recipe only.

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Spring is springing, and my kitchen is doing the same. Heavy, comfort-laden dishes are moving aside to give fresh, veggie-forward meals their time to shine. Things that require a little less cooking and are made to be eaten in the sunshine, a cool breeze on your face and a glass of wine in your hand.

Today’s recipe is just that: chicken paillard (essentially, a flattened butterflied chicken breast) topped with a quick salad made of blistered cherry tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, arugula, and a dijon balsamic dressing that’s so good, you could drink it. It’s fresh, it’s vibrant, it’s got lots of good texture, and it comes together in 30 minutes.

Tell me more

I am, generally, not a huge fan of chicken breasts. I tend to go for the thigh because I just find the breasts to be so dry, so blah, so boring! Blame it on years of being inundated by diet culture. So, on the off chance that I do cook chicken breasts, my method usually includes butterflying, pounding them flat, cooking them, and topping them with some kind of salad (see here and here). It just takes a boring breast from blah to brilliant. And while that usually includes a breading and frying situation, today’s recipe opts out of that for something a bit lighter, quicker, and a lot more French: chicken paillard.

Paillard is essentially a fancy French term for a chicken breast that has been butterflied and pounded thin. There’s various recipes that include sauces and salads, and mine, obviously, falls into the second category. I love cooking chicken breast this way because not only does the pounding tenderize the meat, but making the breasts so thin also ensures that they cook quite quickly.

Notes before we start

• I know tomatoes aren’t *technically* in season yet, but where I live they’re already at the farmers markets. I find that the quick cooking brings out the sweetness in them, even if they’re not quite at their peak yet.

• We’ll be using the smaller fresh mozzarella balls, called Bocconcini or Ciliegine. Bocconcini are about the size of a golf ball, and Ciliegine are a bit smaller. If you can only find the larger balls of fresh mozzarella, feel free to use that and cut it into smaller, bite-sized pieces.

• I got the idea of brushing the chicken breasts with Dijon mustard from my friend, Peyton Sanders. It adds such a huge amount of flavor without having to use a ton of different seasonings. If you don’t already subscribe to Peyton’s Substack newsletter, A Lightly Floured Surface, do so immediately. His recipes are so thoughtful and delicious!

• If you’re looking for a side dish, I think some crusty bread with butter would be absolute perfection for sopping up all the juices and dipping in extra dressing. For a bit more, my friend Chloé Walsh’s roasted potatoes would be right at home with this dish. (And another shameless plug — subscribe to her Substack newsletter, Anchovies & Soup!).

The recipe

Note: recipe videos are posted on my Instagram.

Serves: 2

Cook time: 30 minutes