Check out this easy to cook chicken parmigiana recipe that you can try at home.The perfect crispy breadcrumb coating and served with pasta.
Making traditional Italian dishes like Chicken Parmesan or Veal Parmesan are relatively straight forward. However, it requires using the proper ingredients.
Throughout America, people on any given day might order or cook a zesty Italian dish like Veal, Chicken or Sausage Parmesan. Many believe that the New York or Sicilian Style is the gold standard for this dish. While critics can argue the merits of New York Italian cuisine, it is arguably one of the more popular styles of spaghetti dishes throughout the U.S. Surprisingly, it is not particularly difficult to prepare.
Chicken, Veal, Sausage or Eggplant Parmesan … Choose One
The method of preparation of any of the aforementioned dishes is very similar. One’s taste will determine their preference in meat. In fact, it is easy enough to even make it a vegetarian meal, by substituting egg plant for any on of the meat entrees. This will be covered in more detail below.
If any one of the meats is used, there are two ways to prepare it. First is to bread it and the other way is to cook it without breading it. The breading will have a tendency to absorb oil and adds empty calories to the meal. It is preferable to precook it without any breading.
Basic Recipe Steps
1. Place veal, sausage or chicken into a pan and cook evenly for 3-5 minutes on each side or until the meat looks like it has a certain amount of browning.
2. Use a good tomato basil pasta sauce. One that contains low sugar is the Classico brand. Cover the meat completely and add a little water 4-8 ounces
3. Mix in a small amount of water to the sauce and meat and allow it to cook down.
4. Place pasta (spaghetti) into a pot and boil it until it is soft, but not too soft (al dente)
5. With the sauce* cooked down thickened per step 3, add mozzarella cheese on top of it and reduce the heat on the stove. The mozzarella should cover the meat completely.
6. Cook until the cheese has melted, making sure that it had covered the meat during this time.
7. Place spaghetti on the plater placing the sauce and meat on top. The entree is complete.Vegetarian Meal Style (using egg plant)
Substituting egg plant requires a slightly different operation in step #1. The egg plant should be peeled and cut into thin slices, perhaps 1/4-1/2 inch in thickness. Coat it in low fat mayonnaise and then place it on a cookie sheet and cook at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes on each side or until the egg plant softens, At this point, take it out of the oven and place it into the frying pan and follow all of the steps starting with per #2 above.
This approach to cooking egg plant has 2 bonus features: 1. is completely vegetarian and 2. it is much lower in calories than using meat. The eggplant will almost seem like meat should be quite satisfying.
Obviously, the recipe is basic, it works and is quite simple. Certainly, the finishing touches would be a nice green salad and the meal is complete. Use a nice fresh parmesan or Romano cheese, as well.
