I saw this recipe done one time on the Food Network show "How to Boil Water". It's not tough, but it's not easy, either. It takes about 30 minutes to prepare and about a total cooking time of one hour from the start to finish.
I've tweaked the original recipe - added some things, substituted some others. I've made it for my wife and myself a couple of times. Chicken Parmesan has never been one of my favorites, but this is pretty damned good.
It's a two part thing - make the marinara sauce first, then work on the chicken part of it.
Here we go!
Marinara Sauce (Seriously - make this rather than buy the stuff in a jar at the store. It's easy, fun and it tastes great.)
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium white onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tbsp Italian seasonings (See seasoning ingredients below)
1-28 oz can of whole, peeled tomatoes in puree juice (Dumb shit tip - that's the juice that's in with the tomatoes. Don't drain that out!)
1 - 6 oz can of tomato paste
1 cup beer (American lager, such as Budweiser or Miller High Life)
1 tsp - sea salt
1 tbsp - cracked black pepper
Pour the tomatoes and juice into a large bowl and use a fork to mash and cut the tomatoes until they're a little chunky.
Heat the olive oil in a 4 quart sauce pan over medium heat. When the oil is sufficiently heated, add the chopped onions, garlic and Italian seasonings. (Actually, I add the chopped garlic first - I love the smell of sauteed garlic chunks.)
Stir all until lightly browned, about five minutes, tops. Add the tomatoes and juice and bring to a boil. Add beer and tomato paste. Lower the heat and let simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring every 3 to 5 minutes.
Reduce heat and stir in the salt and the cracked pepper. You can use the marinara right away or you can store it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, or you can freeze for up to 2 months.
You'll have some leftover marinara after you use it with the chicken, so you can have a side of spaghetti and marinara with the chicken parmesan.
(As an aside - I ground up some pork butt and made my own Italian sausage recently. I would LOVE to use this marinara with the homemade Italian sausage for spaghetti.)
(Also - here's a dumb shit tip. Keep the 28 oz. can the tomatoes came in so you can pour the leftover vegetable oil into the can and then place the paper towels you used on top of it to throw into the garbage.)
OK - time for the chicken
2 boneless/skinless chicken breast halves (about 4 to 6 oz. each)
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups unflavored bread crumbs
4 tablespoons Italian seasoning (1 tbsp each dried basil, thyme, and oregano leaves, 1/2 tbsp marjoram, 1/2 tbsp sage - or you can buy Italian seasoning at most grocery stores in the spice aisle)
1 tbsp - Garlic powder granules
1 tbsp cracked black pepper
1 cup all-purpose flour (for dredging)
1 large egg or 2 medium eggs, beaten
1 tbsp milk
Vegetable oil, for frying
1 cup grated Parmesan
2 cups fresh mozzarella or Italian blended cheese
Place each chicken breast between two folded pieces of Saran wrap (or equivalent) and pound them out with a wooden mallet. (Two tips - if you don't have one, get a wooden pounding mallet for cooking purposes. You can find them at most cooking stores. Using a common hammer doesn't cut it - believe me. I have a mallet that is flat on one side, but has a metal tenderizer on the other side. Use the flat side for this.)
(Second tip - I like to put about a tablespoon of olive oil on the Saran wrap and place the chicken breast on it, then fold the wrap over before I pound it out.)
Make sure the chicken breasts are pounded out to no more than 1/3 of an inch thick. (You can do this well in advance and put the wrapped chicken in the fridge for the time being.)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
In a large bowl whisk together 1 tsp of salt, 2 tbsp of the Italian Seasoning, 1 tbsp of garlic powder and 2 cups of bread crumbs and add the tablespoon of cracked black pepper.
Place the flour on a large bowl. In another similar size bowl, whisk the egg and milk together.
In a medium to large skillet, pour vegetable oil to a depth of about 1/4 inch. Heat the oil on medium high or until the oil gets to about 400 degrees.
Dredge a chicken breast in flour. Dip the breast in the egg and milk mixture and then dredge through the seasoned breadcrumbs. Transfer the chicken breast to the skillet when the oil is ready to go.
Drop one breast in and cook for about two to three minutes on each side until golden brown. Take the chicken out of the pan with a pair of tongs, transfer to a baking sheet or to a plate laying on a paper towel. Repeat process with second chicken breast. Set breasts aside.
In a 14" X 9" baking dish, pour extra virgin olive oil in the bottom and either brush or hand-spread the oil along the bottom and sides of the baking dish.
Cover the bottom of the baking dish with a layer of marinara sauce and place the chicken over the sauce. Cover the chicken with another layer of sauce, then scatter the mozzarella (or Italian blend cheese) and the Parmesan on top.
Place in oven on middle rack and bake until the sauce is bubbling and the cheese is browning. About 25 minutes tops. Let set for about five to ten minutes, then serve.
Here's another tip - you're going to use a lot of bowls and plates. I hope to hell you have a dishwasher. But the time it takes to cook the Chicken Parmesan allows you to open a good bottle of red wine to let it breathe before dinner - preferably a Cabernet Sauvignon or a Merlot - and to clean up the mess you made.
Keep your wife or girlfriend out of the kitchen if they go ape shit over a dirty kitchen, because you can make it pretty dirty pretty quickly. But if it's a first date or the first time you're cooking for your lady, they dig sitting in the kitchen and watching you cook.
But you bachelors be forewarned! You have to love to cook! Because if you don't like to cook, the girl you're trying to impress will think that you'll be cooking for her ALL the time.
Actually, as you can probably tell, I love to cook. And Cindy likes it when I cook, too. As I said, this is pretty damn good.
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