Chicken Parmesan

Chicken Parmesan.  Chicken Parmigiana.  Chicken Parm. Chicken P.  I’m not really sure what the best name for the dish is (probably not Chicken P.), and heck even Tyler Florence calls it different things.  He calls it chicken parmesan on Food 911 and then chicken parmigiana on Tyler’s Ultimate.  Make up your mind T-man.  As far as I can tell, they are the exact same.

I think the name is partially dependent on where you are from (Parmigiana is more Italian I guess).  So I’m calling mine plain old chicken parmesan and I’m sticking to it.

No matter what you call it though, it’s some of the best comfort food I can think of and one of my favorite dishes.

This is one of those dishes that has a reputation of taking a long time to make, but I made this version on a week night actually.  Start to finish it probably takes 75 minutes or so.  You could simplify it by using jarred spaghetti sauce, but I don’t know of a jarred sauce that is as good as this version.

Chicken Parmesan (Adapted from Tyler Florence recipe)

Sauce:
- 1/3 Cup olive oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, chopped
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 (28-ounce) cans whole peeled tomatoes, drain them and crush them roughly with hands
- 2/3 Cups basil, roughly torn (reserve some for topping at the end)
- 1/2 Cup Kalamata Olives, pitted and halved
- 1/2 Teaspoon red pepper flakes (adjust if you don’t want the heat)
- Pinch of sugar
- Salt and pepper to taste

Breading:
- 2/3 Cup all-purpose flour, seasoned well with salt and pepper
- 2 large eggs, beaten with 1 Tablespoon of water
- 1 Cup Panko bread crumbs (you can use regular if you like)
- 1 Cup grated Parmesan, plus some for sprinkling at the end, and use the good stuff
- 1/2 Cup parsley, chopped
- 2 Teaspoons garlic powder

- 1 pound of cooked spaghetti
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, pounded thin
- 8-16 ounces mozzarella, thinly sliced (depending on how much cheese you like)
- Canola or peanut oil for frying

Helpful Equipment:
- Meat tenderizer/pounder

It looks like a lot of ingredients, but it’s pretty manageable.  Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees.

Making the sauce. It’s best to start your sauce first for this recipe.  Then you can just let it simmer away on low while you do your other things.  If it ever gets too thick, just add a bit of water to it.

This is a really easy sauce actually.  Start by chopping your onions and garlic.  Then add your olive oil to a pan over medium-high heat.  Once your oil is hot, add your onions, garlic and bay leaf and cook them until they are soft and translucent.

Next add your olives (halved and pitted) and basil.  Stir it all together for just a minute or two.

Then add your tomatoes.  Drain your tomatoes and just loosely crush them with your hands.  As they cook, they’ll fall apart even more.  Stir this all together and let it simmer for 10 minutes or so.  Next add your sugar, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper.  You can let this simmer for a while without a problem.

Preparing the chicken. I think preparing the chicken is the part of the chicken parmesan recipe that intimidates most people.  Ideally you want each breast to be an even thickness of about 1/4 to 1/3 of an inch.  The easiest way to do this is to trim off any huge bits of fat off of each breast and then very loosely place a breast between two pieces of plastic wrap.

With a meat pounder, gently pound the chicken until it flattens out.  There’s no need to hammer the bejesus out of it.  Just a few mild whacks usually does the trick.  You can use a rolling pin for this also.

Putting the breading together. Make a little breading station next.  You need three bowls:  One with the seasoned flour mixture, one with the eggs, and one with the bread crumbs mixed with the grated parmesan, garlic powder, and chopped parsley.  I like to use Panko breadcrumbs as I think they make the final product lighter, but you can definitely use regular if that’s what you have.

Breading the chicken.  First, dip a chicken breast in the flour mixture.  Hit off any extra.  You want a very light coating of flour.  Basically, the flour just acts to dry out the chicken so the eggs will stick to it.  Then move the chicken to the egg mixture and submerge it completely so it’s well coated.  Then move it to the breadcrumbs.  Press down on the chicken breast to make sure the breadcrumbs really stick to it.

I like to then move each chicken breast to a wire rack while I do all of them.  Let the breasts sit for just a few minutes like this which will give the breading some time to dry out a bit and really stick to the chicken.

Frying the chicken. Heat up some canola oil in a large frying pan over high heat.  You only need about 1/2 inch of oil in the pan.  The oil should be about 350 degrees.  If you don’t have a thermometer, just test it by tossing in a few breadcrumbs.  The should bubble right away.

Add two breaded breasts at a time and cook them for about 5 or 6 minutes a side until they are golden brown.  Once they are done, move them to a different wire rack (different because the other one has chicken juices on it).  I prefer the wire rack to a plate with paper towels because the rack lets the oil get away from the chicken while the paper towel system still keeps the chicken sitting in oil.  A small difference but I think it makes for a better final Parm.

All Together Now. Add a thin layer of your tomato sauce to the bottom of a large baking pan and then layer all your chicken breasts on top of the sauce.

Top the breasts with all of your remaining sauce – your chicken will basically disappear in the sauce and that’s okay – then top that with your sliced mozzarella and sprinkle the whole thing with some more Parmesan.

This needs to bake for about 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees or until the cheese is well-melted and bubbling.

While that bakes, make your pasta.

When your chicken is done, let it cool for a few minutes and then serve it all together.  Add some more chopped basil to top the dish.

You know what really made this dish for me actually?  The olives.  They add this really salty and delicious element to the sauce.  While the cheese and everything is great, for me, the olives were the best part.  Is that weird?  Probably.

Anyway, this is the best chicken parmesan recipe I’ve ever had I think.  I highly, highly recommend it.