Cooking Casebook: Chicken Parmesan

These days, I've been trying to reduce our red meat intake, and I'm trying to improve on my repertoire of chicken and fish dishes. However, I must admit, I'm not too good in cooking chicken, unless it's in a soup dish. I tend to overcook it (same goes for fish!), and I find it hard to get it tender and moist.

One day though, I was browsing for recipes and ideas for cooking chicken, and came across this one for Chicken Parmesan, which promised a crispier crust. I looked at the ingredients and decided to try it, since it looked like something the kids might enjoy (who can resist all that melted cheese!). It turned out to be a winner, with a yummy crust and tender meat inside, and everyone loved it. So here's sharing our own modified version of the recipe:

CHICKEN PARMESAN

(Serves 4)

Ingredients

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

2 eggs

2 cups of panko bread crumbs

3/4 cup of grated Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons all purpose flour

1/3 cup olive oil 

1/2 cup of tomato sauce

1/2 cup fresh mozzarella, cut into cubes (not shredded)

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil 

Salt and pepper

Method:

1. It is best to season the chicken breasts the night before with salt and pepper. Depending on your preference, you may also want to cut each piece of meat into half or thirds.

2. Preheat oven to 230ºC.

3. Place chicken pieces in a large ziplock bag and seal the bag. Pound the chicken with a meat mallet to a thickness of about 1 cm.

4. Beat eggs in a bowl.

5. Mix bread crumbs and 1/2 cup of Parmesan in another bowl.

6. Sift flour over the chicken pieces, evenly coating both sides.

7. Dip the chicken in the beaten eggs, then transfer the chicken to the bread crumb mixture, coating both sides. Repeat for each piece of chicken, then set aside for about 15 minutes.

8. Heat 1/3 cup of olive oil in a large skillet, or buffet casserole (the latter allows you to do all the cooking in one pot) at medium high heat. Fry chicken pieces until golden, which requires a few minutes on each side.

9. Transfer chicken pieces into a baking dish (if you are using the buffet casserole, just drain away the excess oil). Top each piece with tomato sauce, mozzarella, and basil, then sprinkle a few tablespoons of Parmesan cheese as well as a tablespoon of olive oil.

10. Bake in the oven until cheese is browned and bubbly, and chicken is cooked through, which would take approximately 15-20 minutes.

11. Serve on top of pasta, or in our case, fried potato slices.

Tips:

1. If you are cooking this for kids, you may want to chop the chicken breasts into smaller pieces (thirds or quarters) before coating them. In general, I find my kids love this dish because of the crust, so the smaller the pieces, the more crust there is for them!

2. Using a pot that can go from stovetop to oven is helpful. In our case, using the Le Creuset buffet casserole meant I could fry the chicken on the stove, and then pop the pot in the oven directly. This was more convenient, and also meant less washing up to do!

PS: This post is the second in a series of posts written in collaboration with Le Creuset Singapore. We were sponsored products for purpose of these posts, and no monetary compensation was received. Stay tuned for more family friendly recipes to come!