Classic Chicken Parmigiana

I LOVE ITALIAN FOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There, I said it. :D I really, really, love Italian food. And pasta. And anything to do with noodles. And sauces. And cheese. And all of them mixed together. I could eat pasta every single day for the rest of my life. And die happy. Probably early.. But very, very happy.

Are you as obsessed with pasta as I am? Well, that’s ok if you’re not. Because *everybody* likes Chicken Parmigiana. It’s a classic. It’s juicy, tender chicken breasts, lightly breaded in Parmesan cheese, golden fried, then topped with marinara sauce and soft, melty, mozzarella cheese. Served with? Pasta!! And it’s delicious.

Now, every Italian restaurant worth it’s salt has Chicken Parmigiana on the menu. But why go out when you can make it better, fresher, and so, *so* much more delectable right here at home? Go ahead. Impress your hubby. Or your wife. Or your special friend. Make them fall in love with you all over again. Or for the first time. Make them this Chicken Parmigiana. I’ll show you.
Let’s start with the yummy, yummy Parmesan breading for our chicken…

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tbsp steak seasoning
Whisk all ingredients together in a medium sized bowl.

Of course, you could just stir the ingredients together, but I like to whisk them because it gives the breading a light, airy texture.

Or it could just be that it breaks up the lumps easier.

Now get your chicken… BTW, have you seen this chicken?? Each breast is *individually wrapped*!! So you can use however many you need and save the rest for later! They’re still sealed! I love it!! Aaaaaand…

They’re already pounded evenly!

I’ve mentioned before that I always like to pound my chicken breasts, no matter what method of cooking. Not to make them thin, but just pounded enough to give them an even thickness. So they’ll cook evenly. But these are already even! :) So no pounding for me tonight. Yay!! But if you just have regular chicken breasts, go ahead and throw them between two pieces of wax paper and give ‘em a good whack. Go ahead, I’ll wait.

Now. Like I was saying earlier… Get your chicken… and coat both sides with the breading mix.

And then set it aside for a sec while we make…

The Marinara Sauce!

2 tbsp butter

3-4 cloves minced garlic

1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes

1/4 tsp sugar

1/4 cup heavy cream

salt and pepper to taste

6-8 basil leaves, chiffonaded

fresh flat leaf parsley

Begin melting 2 tbsp of butter in a medium sized sauce pan over medium to medium low heat. Add in 3-4 cloves minced garlic.

I like to mince my garlic and place it in a bowl or something (okok, I used the same measuring cup I used for the Parmesan cheese and flour) and then add the garlic to the butter all at once, rather than adding it one minced clove at a time. This is because after I add the garlic, I like to stir it constantly so one side doesn’t get too brown. Also, go ahead and open your can of tomatoes so you can just pour them right in when the time is right instead of having your garlic sit around (burning) while you try and find your can opener then fumble with opening the can.

Or is that just me? I’ll admit I’ve done that more than once. :O

Oh! Speaking of garlic… This was like garlic on steroids!

Look how big this thing is!! I had to chop it in half just so it’d fit in my Pampered Chef garlic press! They were *all* this big tonight so I only used 2 cloves. I probably could’ve used 3. But I played it safe.
So like I said. Add your garlic and stir it constantly for about 2 mins until the garlic is soft, but don’t let it turn brown. About like this. It’s a teensy bit brown. Golden rather. Either way, it was just right.

At this point, pour in the tomatoes and add in the sugar. Increase heat to medium-high, and bring to a simmer, then reduce heat back to medium-low, cover and continue simmering for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Once the sauce has simmered, stir in the cream and season to taste with salt and pepper. I used 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper. Cover and simmer for an additional 3 minutes, then lower heat and keep sauce warm til we’re ready for it.

Oh man, doesn’t this look good? It sure does *smell* good, let me tell you. My mouth is watering.
While your sauce is simmering, let’s go ahead and start our noodles to boil. Bring a large pot of water to boil and add 1 tbsp of salt and 1 tbsp of olive oil. The salt is for flavor (go on you know you wanna) and the olive oil is to keep the noodles from sticking. It works pretty good! :) Then add your favorite pasta. Tonight I used angel hair pasta. But you could also use spaghetti or linguine.

Our sauce is simmering, our noodles are boiling, what are we missing?? Oh yes!! The perfectly Parmesany breaded chicken. This is going to be good.
Begin heating 2 tbsp of butter and 2 tbsp of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat until it is nice, hot, melted and brown.