Chicken Parmagiano

Last night, my husband's cousin and her husband came over for Chicken Parmigiana. I actually used two recipes for this one, as you have to bread and fry/saute the chicken using one recipe, and then use it in the Chicken Parmigiana recipe. Although I have watched endless amounts of the Food Network over the years, I have to admit that I have never (ever) taken the time to actually flatten chicken, coat it with flour, dip it in egg, then in bread crumbs and finally fry it. Why would I ever do all of those steps? The time it takes! The many dishes to wash! Well, I am making new things, and trying new recipes, so yes, friends, I flattened, coated, smothered, and dipped - all before frying. I will tell you this one thing - it completely works! I have fried things before, and actually have tried to use breadcrumbs, but have refused to do anything else. The result has always been chicken that sticks to the pan with a "crust" that falls off the chicken. By taking all of the steps (as well as using a hot pan with enough oil), the chicken breasts cooked evenly and the crust stayed on. The chicken also did not stick to the pan, which has happened in the past when I have tried to bread and saute meat. I was amazed when I went to turn the chicken and it actually all came up in one piece! The recipe did call for medium-high heat, and the first couple of pieces got too dark very quickly, so I only used medium heat the rest of the time.

For the rest of the Chicken Parmagiana recipe, you just put a bit of tomato sauce (I used Classico spagetti sauce) on the bottom of the pan and line the chicken up in th pan slightly overlapping. The recipe then calls for 1/2c of parmasan cheese on top, covered with a cup of sauce, then mozzerella cheese (I used a fresh ball of it that I sliced - yum), and more parmesan to top it off. You cook (warm) in the oven 20-30 minutes at 350 degrees. The result was tasty, but if you want to put it over spaghetti like we did, you really need quite a bit more tomato sauce, or the pasta is dry.

Thursday night we have friends coming over, and the meal plan is chicken marsala (bought the wine today - bought "the priciest, but best" as the grocer says... I was too embarrassed to ask if there was anything cheaper and "less best"), and angel hair pasta with browned butter and Mizithra cheese. Stay tuned!