After all the wonderful flavors had melded together in my pot of sauce the other day (recipe for homemade sauce in separate blog), I decided to add some chicken parm to the dinner menu. Not something I do often because it is time consuming. Not to mention that my husband recently told me that my chicken parm is the best he has ever had, which now puts tremendous stress on me every time I make it.
Just as you can get some frustrations out while crushing peppermints for chocolate peppermint bark, you can also get some out while pounding chicken breast. I personally don’t like to purchase the already packaged cutlets because I find there are always pieces I want to cut off of the chicken and it never leaves enough for a good sized cutlet. I buy packages of boneless chicken breast and just cut them into smaller pieces and pound them with a wooden mallet between pieces of wax paper or plastic wrap.
When I am just making cutlets not to bake into chicken parmesan, I pound them thinner than I did for this.
Depending on the size of your pan, I use enough vegetable or canola oil so that it ends up being about 1/4 inch high. Heat the oil over medium heat until it sizzles when a drop of water is put in the oil. Then start preparing the cutlets.
In one bowl I beat 2 eggs mixed with equal amounts of water. In another bowl I put flour, and in the third bowl I put Italian Seasoned Breadcrumbs mixed with about 2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese.
Dip each cutlet into the flour, then the egg, and lastly the breadcrumbs. Put each cutlet in oil and cook for about 2-3 minutes per side depending on the thickness of your cutlets.
When cutlets are cooked I like to put them on a paper towel lined plate to remove some of the excess oil.
Put a very thin layer of sauce on the bottom of your baking dish. Then add a layer of cutlets, another layer of sauce, a layer of shredded mozzarella cheese, and repeat with cutlets, sauce and cheese.
Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 5-10 more minutes until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbly.
Enjoy!!
