Chicken Parmigiana

This is an old stand-by for Ben. He used to ask for it every week, and while it is delicious, we’re all happy that he has diversified.  Once, in a misguided moment of health-consciousness, I skimped on oil for cooking the chicken, and the bread crumbs didn’t brown properly. Ben was highly dissatisfied with the result, and has since been suspicious of my oil-skimping motives and with my general cooking credentials. He seeks continual confirmation now during critical cooking moments that it will be “the whole crispy,” as he puts it. He doesn’t relax until I assure him that we are going for “the crisp, the whole crisp, and nothing but the crisp.”

Ben is a boy of routine. If it is chicken parm day, he gets out all necessary ingredients and supplies the moment I come home from work. By the time I come downstairs after a quick change of clothes and bathroom break, he has all our dredging stations ready to go. He takes the chicken out of the fridge, but refuses to touch raw chicken, deeming it, “a mom job.” We don’t have an exact recipe we follow, but he knows the general procedure and is a pro at the dredging stations. The result is always delicious, and getting there is pretty fun, too. Though I find Ben’s play list while cooking a bit repetitive, nobody can argue with Taylor Swift’s “Shake it Off” to eliminate excess flour in the first dredging pan, and I’m not even sure it would make sense to prepare a chicken dish without the chicken dance!

Chicken Parmigiana Recipe

This makes enough to feed an army, or our family for a couple great days of leftovers. This is the recipe I typed up for Sophia when she left home. I guess I figured she could scale it down herself.

Chicken thighs, boneless, skinless (club pack – 10-14)

1 c. flour (seasoned with 1 t salt and ½ t pepper)

3 eggs

3 c. bread crumbs (or half a loaf of bread)

Olive oil

1 lb. fresh mozzarella cheese

1-2 jars red sauce (according to preference)

Fresh basil

Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

1.  Prepare all the ingredients before you begin.  Make breadcrumbs in food processor. Slice mozzarella cheese.
2. In one pie plate, put seasoned flour. In the second, beat the eggs.  In the third, put the bread crumbs.
3. Spray large casserole dish with nonstick spray and pour in jarred sauce. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
4. Use an empty wax paper bag from a cereal box and place chicken thighs, one by one, inside and pound to ½ in thickness with flat side of meat tenderizer.
5. Heat large skillet over medium/medium-high heat and add oil (probably ¼-½ cup).
6. Begin dredging chicken in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs.  When oil is hot (but not smoking) add chicken to pan. (This will need to be done in batches.  Only 4-5 will fit in the pan at once.) Cook until golden brown on each side (flipping after about 3 minutes).  Place on paper towel-lined plate and then in casserole dish, overlapping somewhat if necessary to make them fit.
7. Place slices of mozzarella cheese over chicken.  Cook in oven for about 15 minutes, more or less, depending on thickness and how much time it spent browning.
8. Top with torn fresh basil leaves and freshly grated parmesan.
9. Serve with penne.