Walnut and Rosemary Oven-Fried Chicken Tenders

I am not a fan of salads. I'll be the first to say this. I tend to find them boring and I can rarely eat them more than two days in a row unless what I've put in them has changed drastically. Having said that, I was looking for something that I could make that would work on salads, as well as on its own. I had some left over walnuts from a recipe a week or so ago, so I managed to use up some of those, and come up with these tasty tenders in the process!

I cut the recipe in half, so you can easily double this for larger portions or more people. For the salad, I served them on a bed of spinach, with tomatoes, cucumbers and light honey mustard dressing.

Walnut and Rosemary Oven-Fried Chicken Tenders (serves 3-4)

Ingredients:

• 1/8 cup low-fat buttermilk
• 1 TB Dijon mustard
• 3/4-1 lb of chicken cutlets
• 1/4 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
• 1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
• 1 TB grated fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
• 1/2 tsp minced fresh rosemary
• 1/8 tsp kosher salt
• 1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• Cooking spray
• Rosemary leaves (optional) 

Instructions:

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees. Combine buttermilk and mustard in a shallow dish, stirring with a whisk. Add chicken to buttermilk mixture, turning to coat.

Heat a small skillet over medium-high heat. Add panko to pan; cook 3 minutes or until golden, stirring frequently. Combine panko, nuts, and next 4 ingredients (through pepper) in a shallow dish. Remove chicken from buttermilk mixture; discard buttermilk mixture. Dredge chicken in panko mixture.

Arrange a wire rack on a large baking sheet; coat rack with cooking spray. Arrange chicken on rack; coat chicken with cooking spray. Bake at 425° for 13 minutes or until chicken is done. Garnish with rosemary leaves, if desired.