I was channeling my inner Giada on Friday and decided to make homemade chicken parm covered in homemade breadcrumbs and served with homemade pasta. Unfortunately, I was unable to take photos of the pasta in the making as you need both hands and sometimes a third when making it, so I will have to post about that some other time when I have a cameraman.
To make the sauce...
Use any canned tomato you have in the house, whole, diced, peeled. Sometimes I throw my whole tomato's in the food processor, other times I crush it with my hands (be careful, they splatter). Add 2-3 cloves of garlic per can. Sometimes I add finely diced onion, sometimes I cut an onion in half leaving it whole and just let it cook with the sauce and pull it out at the end. I always add a sprinkle of sugar to get rid of the acidity in the tomato. You can add tomato paste if you like to thicken the sauce up, you can add fresh grated parmigiana cheese if you like either at the end or the beginning. I generally always add a palm full of oregano to the pot and rub it together in my hands as it falls into the pot. This 'wakes up' the oregano. If you like heat, you can add red pepper flakes. I also add fresh basil at the end before serving. Bring the sauce to a boil and let it simmer 20 minutes, or up to an hour if you have the time. I don't see a huge difference in taste regarding the time the sauce simmers.
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| Diced garlic |
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| The sauce |
To make the breadcrumbs...
Cut up whatever bread you have lying around that is about to go bad into cubes, bake the cubes in the oven on 350 until they are brown and crunchy (about 20 minutes). Add the cubes to a food processor and process into small crumbs. If you want Italian breadcrumbs, you can add dried parsley, basil, oregano or any other season you like. You can freeze this in a zip-lock bag up to about 3 months.
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| Browned bread cubes |
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| Going into the processor |
For the Parm, get a skillet hot with EVOO. Dip your pounded thin so they are even chicken breasts into the flour, then egg wash, then breadcrumbs and repeat once and place in the skillet.
Cook for about 5 minutes per side. You do not want to overcook them and dry them out since they will be going into the oven.
Turn once they are nice and crispy.
When the chicken is done cooking in the skillet, add it to a baking pan. Layer the bottom of the baking pan with a little sauce, then add the chicken, add 2-3 slices of mozzarella cheese to each chicken piece and top with another layer of sauce. Cook this in the oven on 350 degrees for 25 minutes.
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| Chicken before the oven |
You may want to let this cool for a minute or two once you pull it out of the oven so you don't burn your mouth on the cheese.
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| Chicken after the oven |
My pasta cut and ready for boiling water.
If you like, you can serve this with bread. If you are not a meat eater, you can make eggplant instead of chicken and add shrimp or crab meat to either the chicken or the eggplant.
Pasta Sauce:
The myths of having to cook sauce all day are broken. For my sauce I don't have a *true* recipe, you can use any canned tomato you have in the house, whole, diced, peeled. Sometimes I throw my whole tomato's in the food processor, other times I crush it with my hands (be careful, they splatter). Add 2-3 cloves of garlic per can. Sometimes I add finely diced onion, sometimes I cut an onion in half leaving it whole and just let it cook with the sauce and pull it out at the end. I always add a sprinkle of sugar to get rid of the acidity in the tomato. You can add tomato paste if you like to thicken the sauce up, you can add parmigiana cheese if you like either at the end or the beginning. I generally always add a palm full of oregano to the pot and rub it together in my hands as it falls into the pot to wake it up. If you like heat, you can add red pepper flakes. I also add fresh basil at the end before serving. Bring the sauce to a boil and let it simmer 20 minutes, or up to an hour if you have the time. I don't see a huge difference in taste regarding the time the sauce simmers.
Bread Crumbs:
Cut up whatever bread you have lying around that is about to go bad into cubes, bake the cubes in the oven on 350 until they are brown and crunchy (about 20 minutes). Add the cubes to a food processor and process unto small crumbs. If you want Italian breadcrumbs, you can add dried parsley, basil, oregano or any other season you like. You can freeze this in a zip-lock bag up to about 3 months.
Chicken Parmesan:
4 Chicken breasts pounded and flattened to make uniform in size
Breadcrumbs (about 2 cups)
2 eggs beaten
1/2 cup flour
Pasta Sauce
Mozzarella Cheese
Get a skillet drizzled with EVOO hot. Dip the chicken into the flour, then egg wash, then breadcrumbs and repeat once and place in hot skillet. Cook chicken about 5 minutes per side. When the chicken is done cooking in the skillet, add it to a baking pan. Layer the bottom of the baking pan with a little sauce, then add the chicken, add 2-3 slices of mozzarella cheese to each chicken piece and top with another layer of sauce. Cook this in the oven on 350 degrees for 25 minutes.
Serve with pasta if desired. Pin It
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