Pages

Friday, March 13, 2009

Easy Chicken Parmigiana

There are very few days that the food channel is not on here. Not only do I view this channel I listen to it in the background turning my attention to the television only when something peeks my interest. I get a lot of ideas simply by listening. A couple of days ago it seemed like the theme of several of the cooking shows was pairing Parmesan with chicken so I though why not? then I started playing with that idea and how I could do it. This is the dish I came up with.

Parmesan chickenJust Baked

I wanted to create a warm, comforting meal using boneless skinless chicken breasts and Parmesan cheese so I went shopping in my pantry. The choices from my pantry were homemade shake & bakeroasted tomato sauce  and a package of spagettini. I chose dried parsley from my herb collection; fresh Parmesan cheese, cream cheese, sour cream and milk from the refrigerator; and 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts from the freezer. I now had what I thought was the makings for a good meal.

Method: I poured about 1½ cup of the homemade coating mixing into a shallow dish then shredded about ¼ c of Parmesan cheese into the mixture and stirred well before coating the chicken. I placed the coated chicken on a Silpat® lined baking sheet then sprinkled with an extra ¼ c of shredded Parmesan cheese. The chicken was baked at 180ºC (350ºF) until the outside was golden and crispy with inside juices running clear.

coated parmesan chicken  with roasted tomato sauce on spaghettiEasy Chicken Parmigina

While the chicken was cooking I cooked the pasta to al dente and drained. Then I stirred in 4 oz of cream cheese, 2 tbsp roasted garlic, 2 tbsp sour cream and just enough milk to make the sauce creamy.
I warmed the roasted tomato sauce so was ready to plate when the chicken was cooked.

I placed a chicken breast on a bead of the spaghettini then topped with roasted tomato sauce and garnished with dried parsley. This made for a lovely presentation that tantalized the taste buds just from sight. The meal did not disappoint. Using fresh grated parmesan this way really pumps up the flavour without adding a lot of fat while at the same time the cheese adds a nice crispiness to the coating. The easy sauce on the pasta mixed well with the roasted tomato sauce but the roasted garlic flavour was a little lost. Next time I will use a butter sauce instead of a cheese sauce to let the roasted garlic shine a bit and accent the Parmesan chicken. Chopped fresh green onions, parsley or chives would be a nice substitute for the dried parsley.

This is a dish that really has a lot of potential so it will be one I tinker with until I get just the right effect. In the mean time we will be enjoying the attempts that aren't quite just there yet :)

1 comment:

  1. Hi, I'm not even sure how I found your blog, but I am enjoying it immensely! I have read (ok scanned) back all the way to the beginning.

    I too live in Ontario (Bowmanville) and many of the things you write about are so familiar. I also love Havrey's hamburgers :) I was born in Quebec and raised having tortiere for Christmas eve dinner. And we visit Ribfest (either Oshawa or Bowmanville) each summer too.

    There are many of your posted recipes I want to try. I'll let you know if I do :)

    ReplyDelete

Thanks so much for your comment. It will appear if approved. Please note that comments containing links will not be approved.