Chicken Parmigiana

Well I made something new last night for dinner and it was a keeper!

I was watching the "Guy's Big Bite" on the food network a few weeks ago and seen him make this. It looked SO good, so I gave it a try last night. Here is the link to the recipe on the food network and here is the video.

Here is the recipe pasted here, you can see my notes of what we did different at the bottom.

Slamma Jamma Parmigiana by Guy Fieri
4 (5-ounce) boneless, skinless, trimmed chicken breasts
1/2 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1 1/2 cups dried bread crumbs
1 1/2 cups panko bread crumbs
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 pound fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced
1/4 pound Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus extra for garnish, grated
Olive oil, for frying (about 2 cups)
1 pound penne rigate, cooked al dente
Tomato Sauce, recipe follows
1/4 cup minced Italian parsley, for garnish
Directions
Lightly pound the chicken breasts to 1/2-inch thickness. Combine the kosher salt, sugar, and 1 quart of water in a 1-gallon size resealable plastic bag; shake until dissolved. Add the chicken breasts and soak at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Place the flour in a medium bowl. Remove the chicken from the brine. Shake off excess moisture and, with tongs, lightly dredge the chicken in the flour. Shake off the excess flour and transfer to a large plate.

Mix the eggs and milk in medium bowl and whisk thoroughly. In a separate bowl combine the bread crumbs, oregano, basil, parsley, sea salt, and pepper. Dredge the chicken in the egg and milk mixture with tongs and let excess mixture drain off. Now dredge the chicken into the bread crumb mixture, and lightly pat down in the bread crumbs to adhere.

Preheat the broiler.

Let the breaded chicken sit for 5 minutes before frying. In a medium saucepan on medium-high heat, add enough olive oil to come 1/3 up the side of the chicken. Cook the chicken in batches until golden brown on both sides. Remove from the pan when cooked and place on a sheet tray. Repeat with remaining chicken.

When all the chicken is cooked, sprinkle mozzarella and Parmesan evenly over the top. Place under the broiler until the cheese melts and is golden brown.

Serve chicken over pasta and ladle tomato sauce on top. Garnish with additional Parmesan and parsley.

Tomato Sauce:

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 yellow onion, minced
4 garlic cloves, crushed
6 cups peeled and diced Roma tomatoes
1 tablespoon thinly sliced fresh basil leaves
1/2 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a saucepan. Add the onions and cook until translucent. Add the garlic and cook until almost brown, then add tomatoes. Saute for 30 minutes over low to medium heat. Add the basil and oregano and continue to cook for 30 minutes longer. Puree in a food mill or let cool and puree in a food processor. Season with salt and pepper, to taste


Here is what we did or will do different next time:
This recipe is VERY good like it is. It's not that difficult either. Here are a few things we did do different and will change next time.

It ended up to salty. I'm not sure if it's because the chicken was in the brine to long, or if i need to lesson the salt in the breading.

I didn't have enough tomatoes to make his sauce so we used spaghetti sauce, which was good, but next time i'm trying the sauce. I used Barilla Tomato and Basil sauce. I thought it would go good, since there is Basil in the breading too, but it was to much basil. SOooo next time I will make the sauce or try some Barilla Roasted Garlic sauce.

I didn't have any fancy pasta, so I just used this spaghetti noodles. It was good, but next time, i'll go get some fancy noodles, just to make it fancy lol.. Rigatoni or Penne noddles would work great.

I don't know what the Panko bread crumbs are, so I just used 3 c of homemade bread crumbs (dried bread that didn't raise, in my food processor to crumbs)

Oh and last of all, i don't have a meat hammer thing, so i used my rolling pin lol. I put the chicken in a large ziploc bag and used my rolling pin to hammer it. I than used a large bowl to soak the chicken in the brine. Otherwise you have to worry about the bag leaking. Hubby says I need to get a real one LOL.

So try it, and let me know what you think. It was yumm!!