Chicken Parmigiana
Posted: 10 June '10 by Niall
Chicken Parmigiana
I honestly can’t remember where I came across this recipe, but I always thought that it would make a quick and easy mid-week meal.
We were housing-sitting for Kelly’s Mum and Dad recently and had to come up with a menu that Kelly’s sister would also enjoy. Katie has very exacting standards when it comes to meal-times, so there was some doubt whether this recipe would ever be made. There was no need to worry though – the Chicken Parmigiana was a resounding success! So much so that it got a mention in Katie’s phone-call to her parents that night – if that isn’t a sign of approval, I don’t know what is.
If you’re thinking of adding this dish to your repertoire, I have a word of advice – you need a sharp knife to butterfly the chicken breasts. While this may not present a stumbling block to most, my experience is that when you’re cooking in your mother’s house a sharp knife is impossible to find (this is based on a study of 2 out of 2 mothers). To save yourself a lot of heartache, come prepared..
Serves 4 (or a very hungry 2)
You can see the photos here:
Ingredients
- 4 bone-less and skin-less chicken breasts
- 1 cup of plain flour
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 4 tablespoons of olive oil, for cooking
- 2 tablespoons of butter, for cooking
- 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 3/4 glass of red wine (optional)
- 2 tins of chopped tomatoes
- 250g of grated mozzarella
- 100g of grated parmesan
- A handful of fresh basil
- 450g packet of spinach (or a 260g packet if you’re cooking for 2)
- A packet of Stirato bread
Method
- Trim any fat from the chicken breasts
- We need to make the chicken breasts nice and flat, and thin enough so that they will cook quickly. To butterfly the chicken breasts delicately slice at the start of a thicker piece of the meat, angling the blade to 45 degrees. If the knife is sharp you won’t need to exert any pressure, and one stroke will have a nice, shallow slice in the meat. Repeat this procedure until you have a flat piece of chicken breast.
- Mix the flour, salt, and pepper together on in a deep bowl.
- Dredge the flattened chicken breasts in the flour, making sure that the meat has been covered. Now, set the chicken aside on another plate.
- Pre-heat the oven to 200°
- Place the olive oil and butter in a non-stick pan and heat over a medium heat. When butter is melted and the mixture is foaming and hot, fry chicken breasts until nice and golden-brown on each side.
- Remove chicken breasts from the frying-pan and place on a clean plate.
- In the same pan, add the finely chopped garlic and allow to sweat until it has become translucent.
- If you’re using the red wine, pour the wine into the pan and allow the liquid to reduce by half.
- Pour the chopped tomatoes into the pan and cook until the watery juice has virtually disappeared and you’re left with a thick sauce.
- Add the chopped basil to your sauce and stir thoroughly.
- You’re ready to cook the spinach – place the spinach leaves in a large saucepan with a little water in the bottom of the saucepan, and place over a medium heat.
- Pour your tomato sauce into a deep casserole dish and carefully place the chicken breasts into the sauce, making sure that the surface of the chicken stays well above the sauce.
- Sprinkle the grated mozzarella on top of the chicken breasts, followed by the grated parmesan.
- Place the casserole dish in the oven – along with the Stirato bread – and allow the Chicken Parmigiana to heat through until the mozzarella has melted.
- Once the spinach has fully wilted, press the back of a spoon against the spinach leaves until the water in the leaves has been released. Drain the liquid.
- Spoon the spinach onto the plate and, using a large spoon, scoop a chicken breast (along with plenty of the sauce) onto the dish.
- Roughly tear off a portion of the bread and place it on the side of the plate – you’ll need this to mop the sauce up!
- Sprinkle any remaining parmesan over the chicken and serve.
Enjoy.
Tags: Chicken, cooking, italian food, recipe
Categories: Recipes
Made this last night, delicious! I could have sat there all night with bread and the sauce alone. The cheeses really went well together too. Have some left over so can’t wait for lunch now!
Definitely one to be made again..