Easy Chicken Parmigiana

We don't eat much fancy stuff here. We have a few dishes that we like, and we just have them all the time. But the other day I felt like something different, and since we had chicken out, we had a look for chicken recipes.

Hubby got Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food cookbook for Christmas, and theres a recipe in there for "Crispy Chicken" that hubby decided looked good, so we settled on that. Then I had a hankering for cheese, so we decided to modify it a little to get Chicken Parmigiana.

It was delicious. It will now be one of our semi-regular dishes. (Only semi, because Critter is allergic to chicken and eggs, so we tend to have chicken only when we have leftovers that he really loves, like Shepherd's Pie, or sausages.)


Chicken Parmigiana

• boneless skinless chicken breast
• bread
• lemon
• butter
• salt & pepper
• parsley
• egg
  
• flour
• pizza sauce
• cheese
  

Turn your oven on as high as it will go. Grease a baking tray. Set aside.

Sprinkle 2tablespoons of flour on a plate. Beat an egg in a large bowl. Set aside.

Chicken breast - however many your family will eat. We tend to cook one breast each, but will leave some for lunch the next day if they're massive. Place in a bag/between cling film, and pound flattish with a frypan. A mallet would probably work too, but the frypan is more satisfying.

Breadcrumbs - per breast: 2 slices of bread, slightly toasted; 1/2 tablespoon butter; zest 1/4 lemon; salt, pepper, dried parsley to taste. Stick it in a food processor until the crumbs are nice and small. Taste. Adjust as needed. Tip onto a plate and spread out evenly-ish.

Crumbing the chicken - coat the chicken in the flour, then the egg, then the breadcrumbs. Make sure it is well coated. Any excess will just fall off back onto the plate when you lift it, so don't be afraid to be generous.

Put the chicken on the baking tray and whack it in the oven for about 10-15 minutes, depending on how flat you pounded it. Once the time is up, pour some pizza sauce on the chicken. (We used a thick pizza sauce, but if yours is thin, add some tomato paste and extra herbs and mix it up - this is what we do with pizza and it works very well.) Top with cheese - mozzarella preferably, but if you hate it, use something else. We also added parmesan because we loooooooooooove parmesan.

Stick it back in the oven for a minute or two, until the cheese is melty and/or browned slightly, depending on the cheese you used and how you like it. Basically, you just don't want the sauce or cheese to still be cold.

Serve with side of your choice. In this case, raw carrots and Greek Potatoes.

Greek Potatoes

Recipe from a cypriot friend. Possibly the easiest recipe I know.

No picture because they just look like boiled potatoes.


WARNING: VERY TASTY. Do not be tempted to make extra to keep for later, because you'll just eat it all.


Greek Potatoes

• potatoes (small works best)
• olive oil
• salt
• lemon

Cut your potatoes into bite sized chunks. This is, for me, about 1/4 for smallish potatoes. Your mileage may vary. Place in a pot with some salt, and cover with water. Turn on your hot plate to high, and set your timer for 15 minutes. When it goes off, check your potatoes - poke them with a sharp knife. You want them cooked, but not soft enough for mash. You probably need to cook them for at least 5 more minutes, depending on how big you cut them.

Once they're cooked, drain them and then put them back in the pot, but NOT ON THE HOT PLATE. Turn it off. You're done with that.

Add enough olive oil to coat the potatoes, add salt and lemon to taste (you could also add some finely chopped herbs here for taste or looks value, but I dont bother), shake the pot a little till all the potatoes are well coated (which is why you don't want them mash worthy), and thats it. They're ready to serve.