Chicken Parmesan

I never liked chicken parmesan.  Turns out, I never had a good chicken parmesan.  I was watching this when I decided to try to make it.  It was amazing!  

Make your marinara.

Take flattened chicken breast and dip in beaten eggs then coat with bread crumb/parmesan cheese mixture.  

Heat butter in pan and saute chicken breasts until golden brown.

Place in foil lined baking sheet.  Sprinkle mozzarella/provolone/parmesan cheese mixture on top of each breast.  Bake at 400 until no longer pink in center about 30-40 minutes.

Remove from oven and allow to sit 10 minutes before serving.  Plate over marinara and fettuccine.  

Marinara Sauce

Forget about the Ragu, homemade is so much better!

Start by sauteing onion and roasted garlic in olive oil.

In large pot, pour 28 oz can of stewed tomatoes (fresh chopped tomatoes are even better if you have the time) and 12 oz can of tomato paste.  Add onion and garlic to sauce along with: fresh basil, parsley, sugar, salt and pepper.

Simmer for as long as you can stand (I put mine all in a crockpot so I didn't have to babysit it as much) 1-2 hrs at least.  Then, using an immersion blender, puree the sauce until smooth.

You can use this for spaghetti and meatballs, chicken parmesan or whatever your taste buds are craving!

Meatballs!

It is so fun to say.  I found the following recipe here.  The best thing about Italian food is how amazingly delicious it is with such a simple preparation.

First mix your dry ingredients. Measure to taste:

Parsley, red pepper flakes, oregano, kosher salt, basil, parmesan cheese and bread crumbs.  

Hand mix together:

1 lb hamburger
1 lb italian sausage
1 egg

Add dry ingredients to meat, then add a few dashes of worcestershire sauce and about 1/4 cup water.

Mush it all together until well blended then roll out your balls.  I used an ice cream scoop to get large uniform meatballs.  They can be placed closely together on the cooking sheet as they will shrink during cooking.  

Bake 400 degrees 20-30 minutes depending on the size of your meatballs.  Just make sure they are no longer pink in the middle.