Do you have a delicious, tried and true recipe for chicken parmesan? I love this dish but always get some pre made version of it to have at home. Today I tried making it from scratch for the very first time. Can you believe that?!! It was an ok nice. I love marinara anything no matter what and the real chicken meat was tender and moist but it didn't taste like a chicken parmesan should. Soooo......What are your thoughts and how do you make yours?
Well this is how we make it. Coming from an old italian family, and we eat it all the time. First the sauce we use is what we call "chicken sauce" Get a whole roaster chicken and cook it up in a few cans of Hunts tomatoe sauce. Then you just have to play with the sauce to your liking with the spices/paste etc. Take all of the chicken out of the tomatoe sauce and use that for something else. That chicken is for another meal. We always have sauce on hand though, because we eat pasta once or twice a week. If you don't make your own sauce, I"m sure there is a version of Ragu or something that is good.
For the Chicken, we use thinner sliced boneless chicken breasts, not really thick ones. Bang them down a little. Dip them in a mixture of egg/Parmesian chees/ and a little milk. Cover them with this mixture. Then put them in a bowl of bread crumbs....we use 4 C seasoned and plain mixed together half and half. Coat them in that. Pan fry the chicken for a few seconds. Then in a deep dish we layer the bottom of the dish with sauce, put the chicken on top of that, more sauce on top of the chicken then COVER with Mozzarella cheese and bake. Eggplant is wonderful that way too, and I found an easier version rather than coating & frying the eggplant. Sams Club carries already fried eggplant. Michaelangelos. To die for. Again layer sauce, the fried egg plant mozzarella cheese, with the eggplant we make it a couple layers high.
My sister's recipe is a bit different and I like it without the marinara sauce. I'm wondering what it would taste like with the sauce added now... never tried it that way. I live such a sheltered life I had no idea... LOL
Anyways, here it is:
Preheat oven to 350*
1 3lb chicken, cut up (or allow 3 pcs per person)
½ c (2 oz) parmesan cheese (dry or grated, either is fine)
¼ c flour
1 tsp paprika
½ tsp salt
dash of pepper
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 Tbsn milk
¼ c margarine, melted
Combine cheese, flour, and seasonings in one bowl.
Mix egg and milk in another bowl.
Dip chicken in 2nd bowl, then in 1st bowl to cover.
