During this Covid-19 pandemic, avoiding going to the grocery store has become important. Thus, using only what I had in my fridge and pantries made for this quick and tasty rendition of chicken parmesan. I'll make some suggestions for alterations or additions that you may find you would like to do! In all, this took me about 45 - 60 minutes from start to finish.
Tools you'll need:
Two skillets (I used my cast iron, but you don't have to use them if you don't have them. They are super because they can also go in the oven)
Tongs to flip the chicken
Cooking spoon
2 Cutting boards (one should be plastic)
Meat tenderizer hammer
2 shallow flatter bowls
Whisk
Colander
Knives (one for chopping onions, one for cutting the chicken if it needs to be cut)
Pot for boiling pasta
Ingredients:
Chicken breast (bonless an skinless) I did one large one, but you can do as many as you like
Onion (1 medium)
Minced garlic (I buy the already minced in a jar and used two heaping spoonfuls)
Dried Parsley
Dried Basil
Dried Oregano
Cracked red pepper flakes
Salt
Pepper
Garlic powder
1 Bay leaf
1 - 2 Cups Ricotta cheese
1 6 oz can tomato paste
1 - 2 14 oz cans of tomato sauce
Olive Oil
Vegetable oil/canola oil/Crisco (shortening)
Corn meal or bread crumbs
1/2 Cup Buttermilk or Milk
2 - 3 Eggs
Red wine or balsamic vinegar
Pasta of your choice
OPTIONAL: Spinach, mushrooms, Sliced provolone and/or mozarella cheese, grated parmesan cheese
Instructions:
Put a pot of salted water on to boil for the pasta. When it boils, cook the pasta to desired doneness and drain.
Heat both skillets. In the one for the sauce heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil on medium heat. In the other, coat the bottom with about 1/4 inch of vegetable oil or crisco.
In the sauce skillet, put two heaping spoonfuls of minced garlic and diced medium onion. Use about 1/2 tsp of salt. Cook on medium heat until the onions are translucent. Add the can of tomato paste and one of the 6 oz can of water. stir until mixed through. Add about 2 T each of oregano, basil, and parsley. Add cracked red pepper flakes and pepper to taste. Stir through.
Cook until all the liquid is gone and it is bubbling. Add a couple glugs of red wine (about 1/4 cup) or balsamic vinegar. Stir through and cook until the liquid is gone. Add the tomato sauce, another 1/2 tsp - 1 tsp salt as needed and the bay leaf. Add 1 can of water from the tomato sauce cans. Stir. Let that simmer. If you like mushrooms, add them now. I didn't have any, so didn't add them. Keep tasting and add seasoning and/or salt as necessary until it tastes as you would like.
At the same time of making the sauce, take your chicken breast and place it on a plastic cutting board. You don't want to put meat on wood as the wood will harbor the bacteria from the raw meat. Using the meat tenderizer hammer, pound the meat to flatten and tenderize it on both sides. I then cut the chicken in half, length-wise as it was huge.
Salt, pepper, and garlic powder both sides of the meat liberally. In the two shallow bowls, one will have about 1/2 cup of buttermilk and two eggs whisked together. In the other, take about 1 - 1.5 cups of corn meal/bread crumbs, 1 tsp each of oregano, basil, and parsley, and 1/4 cup grated parmesan (I didn't have any so left this out), and mix. You may like to add other ingredients to your fry crumbs but when I'm doing purely italian, I use italian seasoning only. Otherwise I love adding paprika, cayenne, cumin, etc.
Fully coat the chicken breast in the milk/egg, then fully coat it in the bread crumbs. Gently drop the chicken into the heated oil. Do this with however many chicken breasts fit or you want to make. Let the meat fry for several minutes before flipping. It should be a nice golden brown. Fry until the juice is no longer pink from the chicken breast an the meat is no longer pink in the middle. Honestly fry time varies based on the thickness of the chicken. Mine took about 10 - 12 minutes total.
While the chicken is frying and the sauce is really simmering (it'll turn darker and get a little orange on the top as it simmers), add in about 1 - 2 cups of ricotta cheese and stir through. Let simmer. If you would like, add Heaping handfuls of fresh baby spinach and stir through. I personally did raw spinach in place of pasta for my own dish.
When the chicken is down, put it on a plate lined with paper towel to soak up excess oil. If you want to do a lighter version and have an air fryer, "fry" the chicken in your air fryer instead.
Spoon your pasta and chicken onto a dish or bowl. Then coat with the sauce. Or if you were like me, use fresh spinach in place of the pasta.
OPTIONAL: If you love cheese and have it in your fridge (I did not have it so skipped this step), before plating, remove the oil from the skillet, put the chicken back in the skillet (if it is oven safe) and cover with a slice of mozarella and/or provolone. Place in the oven for a few minutes at 400 degrees until the cheese is bubbly or even a little browned to your liking. No oven safe skillet? Just put the cheese on in the skillet and let it melt on the chicken on the stove top. Then plate your meal.
Mangia!
Comments