Memories of Memorial Day...

Panko Crusted Chicken Breasts with Tropical Salsa Sauce

Memorial Day was always a fun holiday at my house. As a kid, I always remember the day to be sunny and not too cold. I'm sure that was not the case every year, but my memory holds that weather report on record anyway.

One of the other things I will always remember about Memorial Day is kittens. Spring always brought a fresh batch of furry babies into our world and, coincidently, on Memorial Day they'd always be just old enough to take them out and let them play in the lawn. They were about 6 or 7 weeks old. Probably not ready to really hit the big time but in those days, once the kittens were able to eat without "mom" and use a litter box they were ready to find a new home.

We used to give away the kittens, in those days, to a good home. It's not highly recommended these days (or recommended at all), but it was the tradition back in the 60's in small town America. Memorial Day brought lots of folks to our neighborhood, so it was a perfect day to find new homes. People would walk by and ooh and aaah over the kittens. We'd have 4 or 5 to give away and invariably they'd find very happy families. That part of Memorial Day made me sort of sad, but mostly I remember how proud we were to show off our adorable bundles to the passers-by.

Why were so many people passing by our house? Because we were lucky enough to LIVE on the parade route! Oh, joy of joys! We had ringside seats, on the curb, right in front of our house. We could "save" our spots by putting a blanket down by the curb and we could play on the lawn until we heard the bands coming down the street. How convenient for my mom too. She could stay in the kitchen cleaning up breakfast, or getting some ironing done right until parade time. No having to pack the brood in the car, drive and park and then walk to the parade. We were in parade central.

My favorite parts of the parade were the military and the bands. I hated most of the floats; especially the ones that were cars holding politicians. They were a real waste of time in my eyes. I never knew anyone in those cars anyway. I loved standing up and putting my hand over my heart every time the American flag went by. How many people do that nowadays? Seems like none.

I loved the precision of the military guys as they marched on by. Sometimes we'd even get a couple of army vehicles that would roll by. The fire trucks were decent too; just not quite as cool as the men in military uniforms.

The bands were always fun to watch. I even grew up and marched along in my high school band. I was part of the drill team so we'd carry placards or pom pons as we marched along with the band. Our band always had the coolest songs. We were hot!

I can't remember eating anything special on Memorial Day. I probably ate burgers and hotdogs along with corn and potato salad.

The dish I'm going to offer to you today is not your average picnic food but it sure will taste good on a warm day. Happy Memorial Day to all in America.

Enjoy!
Zola

Panko Crusted Chicken Breasts with Tropical Salsa Sauce

Serves 4. Can be doubled

28 oz canned Pineapple tidbits (no sugar added, juice included). (If you can find fresh pineapple even better!)
3 tsp minced, fresh Ginger
1 tsp finely minced fresh red cherry pepper (jalapeño can be substituted)
1/2 an orange Bell pepper diced
2 tsp Apple Cider vinegar
Olive oil spray
4 chicken breast halves, cleaned and dried
1 1/2 cups of Panko (Japanese bread crumbs or flakes)
1 tsp ground Cumin
Sprinkle of Cayenne (optional)
1 Tbl Olive oil

Preheat the over to 350 degrees.

Put the pineapple, ginger, and both types of peppers in a saucepan. Cook on medium until the flavors are melded and some of the liquid has reduced. 5 - 8 minutes. Take off of the heat and stir in the vinegar. Get out your blender. Carefully load half of the pineapple mixture into the blender and blend until smooth. Return that mixture to the saucepan and stir into the chunky parts already in there. Your salsa sauce is ready. You have the choice now to serve this warm with the chicken or chill it in your refrigerator. If it's really hot out, I'd go with the chilled version.

Now take out the cleaned and dry chicken breast halves. Spray with olive oil spray on both sides. Put the Panko crumbs/flakes on a large plate. Add the Cumin and Cayenne. Mix it up. Dip the chicken breasts, both sides, in the Panko. Press your hand on the breast to get as much to stick as possible. Cover the entire breast. Repeat with the others. Toss out any leftover crumbs (because of chicken contamination).

Heat the 1 Tbl of olive oil in a large sauté pan. On medium high cook the chicken breasts top down for 5 minutes to seal on the crumbs and to get a nice medium brown crust. Flip them over (you can use a fork to poke and grab them so as not to disturb the crumb mixture). Then transfer them to a heatproof pan and put them in the oven. Bake on 350 for 20 more minutes (or until chicken is no longer pink the middle).

You are ready to serve. Put the chicken on the plate and spread a nice helping of salsa across the middle and let it drizzle down the sides. The warm chicken and cool sauce make a great feeling in your mouth as you bite into it.

Side serving suggestions: Pea pods, baby roasted veggies or a salad. A nice, light meal.

For those not yet familiar with Panko, read this tidbit from Wikipedia to get you started. You can find Panko in most markets in the Asian section or the bread aisle.