Homemade Chicken Parm

It's a rainy day up here in Manitowoc, and while I can’t decide on what to make for dinner tonight, I am still thinking about what we had on Monday!

Every once in a while I will stumble upon a recipe on Pinterest for something I love and decide to give it a try and Monday was no exception. Several days prior I saw a pin for 3 cheese chicken Parmesan and couldn’t wait to whip it up. With a few tweaks of my own of course!

The “recipe” wasn’t really helpful, so I had to kind of guess what the original Pinner was trying to get across, and I think I did a decent job. So if you enjoy chicken parm, you should definitely give this a try.

First you need your ingredients:

·         1 defrosted chicken breast per person you are feeding

·         1 egg

·         A little milk (probably close to ¼ of a cup)

·         Breadcrumbs

·         Parmesan

·         Mozzarella

·         Olive Oil

·         Pasta (we used whole wheat shells, but I would recommend a different noodle, like spaghetti)

·         Sauce (I make my own)

·         Bread (if you like it as a side, I make that too)

o   If you want to copy the butter I made for the bread you will also need:

§  Fresh Basil (8 leaves)

§  1 teaspoon of garlic

§  ½ stick of butter

-          First pour some oil into a frying pan, you don’t need a lot just cover the whole bottom of the pan. Heat the oil (you know the oil is ready when you stick a wooden spoon end in and bubbles form around it).

-          While the oil is heating prep your chicken. Crack the egg into a bowl and add the milk. Whisk it together so that it isn’t separated (put some pepper in this too). And pour your bread crumbs into another bowl.

-          Dip each chicken piece in the egg and then dip in the bread crumbs. If your oil is heated put the chicken right into the pan. The goal here is just to brown the outside, so keep an eye on it. I had mine on each side for less than a minute.

-          Then place the chicken into your baking pan. Pour a spoonful of sauce on each piece, and top with your cheeses. Bake in a 375-degree oven for about 25 minutes, again, keep an eye on it since some chicken pieces are thicker than others.

-          While that is baking, cook your pasta and heat your sauce. Once that’s done I toss the two together.

-          If you make your own bread, follow that recipe and plan it accordingly so everything finishes at the same time.

o   For the butter, I melted the stick in the microwave, finely cut the basil leaves and mixed them in the butter along with the garlic.

o   I then put it in the fridge so it would set, pulling it out periodically to re-stir so that nothing would settle on the bottom.

-          Once the chicken is done, serve over your pasta! Done!

I was surprised by how easy the prep was for this dinner and it got great reviews from my husband who actually said it tasted like it would if you ordered it at a restaurant! I’m thinking it will be added to our meal rotations.