My husband is what I refer to as a Chicken Parmesan fanatic! This is his favourite meal and always his request when I ask him what he would like for his birthday dinner or any dinner for that matter. Have I ever mentioned that his birthday is the end of July, in the oppressive heat of summer? Standing over a hot stove in the dead of summer is true love…lol
Believe it or not, we have even made Chicken Parmesan on our wood stove.
A few Christmases ago, our son was living in London, Ontario and was coming home for Christmas on December 23rd. The bad news is we were in the midst of a blizzard. The good news is…by some miracle, our son’s plane landed. The bad news (again!), our power went out.
The chicken was already thawed and with little refrigeration available we all decided, what the heck, we had nothing else to do, so let’s try making the Chicken Parmesan on our wood stove.
Our beautiful daughter tending to our woodstove Chicken Parmesan dinner.
We all pitched in and it turned into a really fun time and a memory I will never forget.
Although prepared using a conventional stove and oven, and not as much fun as on the wood stove, we made Chicken Parmesan for the 150,984th time a couple of Sundays ago.
Low and behold, I finally snapped some photos too!
Put the olive oil in saucepan and place over medium heat. When the oil has heated, add the onions, garlic, and bay leaves; cook and stir for 5 minutes until softened.
To easily pit the olives, just flatten olive with the side of a chef’s knife. You will then be able to easily remove the pit.
Add pitted and chopped olives and hand torn basil to the pot with onions, garlic and bay leaves. {Note – Where I live, fresh basil is difficult to find in the winter, so I substituted with some of my own frozen basil.}
To the pan, add the tomatoes, cook and stir until the liquid has reduced and the sauce has thickened.
Place the chicken, breasts side by side on a plastic wrap covered cutting board and lay a second piece of plastic wrap over them.
Using a rolling-pin or other heavy flat surface pound the chicken breasts until they are about 1/2-3/4 inch equal thickness.
My little breading station all set up and waiting for the chicken.
First in the flour to dry the chicken, ensuring the egg wash will stick.
Next, a little bath in the egg wash.
Finally, a trip to the panko/parmesan station for a nice coating in crumbs.
Into a hot pan and cook chicken until lightly browned on each side.
This isn’t a great photo but I wanted to show you the chicken with a big spoonful of the thickened sauce and the cheese, all ready to go into the oven. (In this case I used grated mozzarella, it’s what I had on hand.)
- 4-5 Tbsp. olive oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 bay leaves
- ½ cup kalamata olives, pitted
- ½ bunch fresh basil leaves
- 2 (28-ounce) cans whole peeled tomatoes, drained and hand-crushed
- Pinch sugar
- salt and pepper
- 4 skinless, boneless, chicken breasts (Pounded to an equal thickness of ½ - ¾ inch)
- ½ cup flour
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 cup Panko crumbs
- 1 (8-ounce) ball fresh mozzarella or about 1 cup grated mozzarella
- Freshly grated Parmesean
- 1 pound spaghetti, cooked
- Put the olive oil in saucepan and place on medium heat. When the oil is heated, add the onions, garlic, and bay leaves; cook and stir for 5 minutes until softened.
- Add the olives and tear up the basil and add to pot.
- Add the tomatoes, cook and stir until the liquid has reduced and the sauce has thickened (about 15 - 20 minutes)
- Season with sugar, salt and pepper.
- Lower the heat, cover, and keep warm.
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
- Meanwhile, put the chicken breasts side by side on a plastic wrap covered cutting board and lay a piece of plastic wrap over them.
- Using a rolling pin or other heavy flat surface (think wine bottle or smooth can) Pound the chicken breasts until they are about ½-3/4 inch equal thickness.
- Gather three 8x8 glass dishes or pie plate plates.
- Put the flour in one and season with salt and pepper.
- In a second dish, using a fork, beat the eggs and water until frothy.
- Put the Panko and about ¼ cup Parmesan cheese in the third pan and season with salt and pepper. Mix well.
- Heat olive oil over medium- heat in a large oven-proof skillet.
- Lightly dredge both sides of the pounded chicken in the seasoned flour, and then dip them in the egg mixture to coat completely, letting the excess drip off, then dredge in the Panko/parmesan mix.
- When the oil is nice and hot, add the chicken and fry for 4 minutes on each side until golden and crusty, turning once.
- Ladle the tomato-olive sauce over the chicken and top with mozzarella and a sprinkle of Parmesan.
- Bake the Chicken Parmesan for 15 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly and chicken is cooked.
- Serve hot with spaghetti.
I hope you and your family will enjoy this recipe as much as we do. Maybe Chicken Parmesan will even become a family favourite in your home too.
As always, if you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to ask and I will do my very best to answer.
Loved the fact that we chose this recipe to use for our “Girls Night”. It was every bit as delicious as it looks….. maybe even better! Thanks for posting it.
lol…I had this just about ready to go so it was a great refresher to make it so close to the date it was going to be published!
Monica Parlee recently posted…No-Bake Chocolate Macaroons {aka Frogs}
I’m totally making this tonight, yum! Thanks for the inspiration!
Jennifer recently posted…The Great Canadian #Giveaway Link Up
It’s really delicious Jennifer and although it sounds a bit complicated, is really not that difficult to make. Hope you enjoy it.
Monica Parlee recently posted…How to Make Irish Coffee
Monica, this looks delicious! Years ago my ex-husband had a friend, who was Italian come spend the night and I had never made chicken Parm. before. He showed us a fairly simple and quick way to do it, but it is always time consuming to do the battering part unless you cheat and buy pre-battered and fried chicken,(which I have done a time or two with a good brand and some doctored up jar spaghetti sauce (I love the Ragu Parmesan/Romano flavor mixed with a can of crushed tomatoes and seasonings)
Your hubby are close to having two things in common, : My birthday is near the end of June and my all time favorite meal is Eggplant Parmesan with spaghetti, garlic bread and a tossed salad with homemade Italian & homemade Russian Dressing mixed & homemade croutons! (with a medium rare Ribeye steak a close second! ) Eggplant takes a bit longer than the chicken since you have the soaking process to take away some of the bitterness, but well worth it! The first time I ever had it I thought it was Veal Parmesan! It was the top layer of provolone cheese that made it taste like meat to me! I also use mozzarella,an Italian blend and Parmesan/Romano in addition to the provolone!
I have always wanted to try making Eggplant Parmesan Michelle and how you have described the meal you make has my mouth watering! You have inspired me to try making it very soon.