Italian Fried Chicken

For the marinade:

• 1/3 cup Olive Garden Italian dressing. 
• 1 Tbs Dijon mustard. 
• 1 Tbs hot sauce. 
• 1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce. 
• the zest of one lemon and 1/2 tsp black pepper -OR-  2 tsp Simply Organic Lemon Pepper seasoning.

For the batter:

• 3 eggs beaten well in a bowl
• a large plate with 2 cups all purpose flour

For the chicken:

• 2 large chicken breasts cut into tenders

Directions

1. Heat a ceramic-coated, cast-iron Dutch oven on Medium High heat (6). 
2. Add 3 cups vegetable oil to it and allow that to heat up while you're prepping the remainder of the ingredients. 
3. While that's heating, open 2 packages of chicken breasts and rinse them well under the tap.
4. Place them on a cutting board and slice them into tenders (about 4 per breast).
5. Make the marinade and mix it well.
6. Add the chicken tenders to it and toss to coat. Set aside.
7. While that's marinating, add 3 eggs to a medium-sized bowl and beat them well with a fork. Set aside.
8. Get out a large plate (with a shallow well, if possible) and add 2 cups of flour to it. 
9. Retrieve one saucy chicken tender and place it into the flour. Coat it well with flour.
10. Transfer that chicken tender to the egg mixture and coat it well with egg.
11. Pick up that same chicken tender and allow the egg to drip off a little bit into the bowl.
12. Place the chicken tender into the flour again and coat it well with flour.
13. Set this chicken boi on the side of the flour plate and repeat this step with 2 more tenders (or however many will fit in your Dutch oven at one time without overcrowding it). 
14. Once you have 3 tenders raring to go, place them into the hot oil, one at a time. 
15. While those are frying, repeat coating your remaining tenders in flour, egg and flour.
16. Each chicken tender should cook for about 4 minutes on each time, so set a timer if necessary so you don't lose track of time while you're multi-tasking.
17. After you remove your 3 chicken tenders at a time from the frying oil, place them on a wire rack that has been set atop a plate. This will allow the oil to drip off without making a mess on your counters.
18. Sprinkle each side of the freshly retrieved chicken with table salt. 
19. Repeat until all chicken tenders are done. 
20. Don't forget to make sure your burners are off when you're done cooking.

For clean up:

1. Make sure the oil is completely cooled, then pour it into the trash can.
2. Set the Dutch oven into the sink and squirt in 2 Tbsof dish soap. This will act as a degreaser.
3. Fill the Dutch oven with hot water from the tap, making sure that the degreaser is fully dissolved into the water. 
4. Then scrub the Dutch oven until it's clean and no longer soapy or greasy. 

My favorite way to use this chicken is over Alfredo. But it also works great over Roasted Red Pepper Salad.