Chicken Parmesan Ala Karina

Our meal-on wheels entrée for this week was Chicken Parmesan with spaghetti and homemade bread and I used the recipe from Café Delights as my starting place.  I generally followed the ingredients list, except I used Ragu for the sauce and I used a different chicken prep and marinating method.  Please stop by Karina’s site for the original recipe and delicious looking shots.

Chicken Parmesan – Adapted from Café Delights.

Ingredients:

2 large eggs

½ t. garlic powder

2 T. fresh chopped parsley

Salt & pepper, just a little if is jiccard used

6 large chicken breasts

1 c. Panko breadcrumbs

½ c. Italian breadcrumbs

½ c. fresh grated parmesan cheese

1 t. garlic powder

1/2 cup olive oil for frying

1½ jars Ragu (or your favorite pasta sauce)

8 oz. mozzarella/provalone blend, shredded

1/3 c. fresh shredded parmesan cheese

2 T. fresh chopped parsley

Instructions:

1. To prepare the chicken, remove the tender and any fat or gristle.  Then cut off the thin end of the breast back to a ½” thickness (about 2”).  Using a jiccard (or meat mallet, pound it all down to a ½“ thickness - photo above.

2. Whisk together eggs, ½ t. garlic powder, parsley, salt and pepper in a bowl. Dip chicken in the egg, rotating to evenly coat each fillet. Add to a one quart plastic bag along with the remaining egg mixture, massage a little, remove the air and store in the fridge to marinate for at least 15 minutes or overnight night if time allows for a deeper flavor ( Larry did 4½ hours and flipped halfway thru).

3. Preheat oven 430°F, line a sheet pan with foil, spray with Pam, and set aside.

4. When ready to cook the chicken, mix bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese and 1 t. garlic powder together in a separate shallow bowl. Lightly S&P the chicken and evenly coat it with the bread crumb mixture.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until hot and shimmering. Fry chicken until golden and crispy, (about 4-5 minutes each side).

5. Place chicken on the prepared sheet pan and top each breast with about 1/4 cup of sauce and bake for 10 minutes.

6. Remove from the oven and top with about a tablespoon of Parmesan and as much cheese as each piece will hold (we used shredded but sliced would have worked better) and bake until cheese is melted, and the chicken is completely cooked through (160F internal temp for me).

While the chicken is baking, cook your favorite pasta (a pound of angel hair for us), drain and mix with about a half jar of sauce.

I added their share of the pasta to a pan, topped with the chicken, and covered with foil for delivery.

I sent along another jar of sauce for them to add more to the pasta and chicken as desired.  

I cooked up the tenders (same as above) for Bev and we thought it was very good (I had to try one bite of hers).  It was flavorful and crispy and I would definitely use these recipe ingredients and chicken prep method again but will use our normal method for cooking, which is:

1. Cook the chicken in a pan until practically done (155F) then top with cheese, add lid and cook until cheese is melted (no oven involved).

2. Plate the pasta and the chicken and top everything with warm marinara and fresh grated Parmesan.


Looks like this.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

1/23/20 event date