Now one thing I've learned the last few years is an amazing bit of culinary magic. If you want to take a small amount of food and make it look like a big amount of food, change the form is some way of a chicken breast. Dice it, shred it, flatten it, slice it. Whatever you do, you'll probably be amazed how much chicken you actually have in the end, and this recipe for Chicken Parmagiana proves it.
To make this dish, you'll need to pound chicken breasts flat. This accomplishes a couple of things. Most importantly it helps ensure even cooking, which is very important with chicken. It also helps stretch what you have.
There are a couple of ways to flatten out the chicken. First, lay out a boneless, skinless chicken breast on a cutting board and cover it with a sheet of plastic wrap that is at least three times the size as the pieces of meat. I use the flat side of a meat hammer/tenderizer to gently pound out the chicken to about a half-inch thick. If you don't have a meat hammer, you can use a rolling pin to roll it out under the plastic wrap. When you flatten them out, the chicken breasts will be quite large. I recommend cutting each in half, giving you eight pieces in all.
Ingredients
4 chicken breasts, rolled to about 1/2-inch thick
Salt and pepper
3/4 cup flour
3 eggs, beaten
1-2 cups Italian style bread crumbs
1/4 cup olive oil, divided
2 jars spaghetti sauce, divided
2 cups shredded mozzarella or Italian mix cheese
Oregano
1 lb pasta of your choice
Directions
Pound chicken out and cut into eight pieces as described above. Season each piece with salt and pepper on both sides.
Set up a breading station using three shallow dishes. The first dish has the flour, the second the beaten eggs, the third the bread crumbs.
Working in batches, bread the chicken by coating with flour, then eggs, then bread crumbs. Make sure in each step to get full coverage and too shake off the excess.
In a large skillet over medium high heat, heat some of the olive oil (enough to coat the pan) and place the breaded chicken in the skillet. You should be able to do half the chicken in each batch. Cook for about three minutes on each side until you have a golden brown crust. Keep in mind, you do not have to cook the chicken completely in this step. The goal is to sear in the juices and get the crust just right.
Using one of the jars of spaghetti sauce, spread a little of it across the bottom of a large baking dish. Layer the dish with the fried chicken cutlets. If your dish is large enough, you can make two layers, which is preferable. Mine was not, so I made two layers. Spread some of the sauce on top of each cutlet (using the entire jar by the time you're done), then top with the shredded cheese. Sprinkle with some oregano and/or other Italian spices.
Bake in a 375-degree oven for about 30 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and starts to brown. Make sure the chicken is cooked inside, which it should be.
While the chicken is baking, make the pasta as directed and heat up the other jar of sauce. Serve the pasta (I used rigatoni) along side the chicken. I suggest some garlic bread and a salad, too!
It may seem like a lot, but this is really a very simple recipe, and it's well worth the effort. Try this, and you'll probably never bother getting chicken (or veal) parm in a restaurant again, because you can do it just as well at home.
Unless you're having a lot of people over for dinner, you'll probably have a lot of leftovers, so you can certainly cut this recipe in half if you'd like. Of course, Italian leftovers are the best, so enjoy for a few days. You can even make a chicken parm sandwich!
