Introducing Table Talk: Chicken Parmesan

Bake 52 ended with the year 2012.  We set out to bake 52 weeks out of the year and believe it or not there were some of us left by the end!  And, even more unexpectedly, there were a few of us who wanted to keep going!   We decided to go with a little different focus and a little more lax in the rules. :)  We will be posting dinner recipes 2 times a month (on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays). This is week one, thus the 'introducing' in the title. :)  It was a great way to start, who doesn't love chicken parmesan?  Well, except Tyler, but I am starting to wonder if he's some kind of alien (and 'starting to  wonder' is the polite version).  Even though he claims not to like it, I have started to change his tune.  He has admitted to loving the version of chicken parmesan that I previously posted about.  And today, he said this was good.  As far as I am concerned, it's a winner. :)

I usually stick mainly with chicken tenderloins when I am cooking chicken, but this recipe called for breast cutlets and explained how to turn a breast into a cutlet.  You slice it in half length-wise and then pound it to 1/4 inch thick.  I used to pound each piece separately but now I just line all my chicken up on a couple layers of paper towel, cover with a layer of paper towel and pound them all at once.  

It's much quicker and you also dry your chicken at the same time.  Just a tip.  I know, could I be any more helpful?  It's like I am curing cancer here.

It works better with the tenderloins, they are just easier to flatten than breasts, but it still worked pretty well here.

I loved the tip about cooking the chicken on a rack.  I wondered if it would stick at all but it didn't.  Not one bit.  Way better than just cooking on the foil.

I also loved using the panko.  It really makes a big difference in the crunchyness of the dish, I think.

I only ended up cooking my chicken for 6 minutes and then putting it back in for the final 2 with the sauce and cheese.  Because I would rather get salmonella than eat dry chicken. :)

The book has an easy sauce recipe, but I just used our favorite marinara sauce that I love more every time I make it.

I think next time, I would take the parmesan cream sauce from the other recipe-prepare the chicken according to this recipe but with tenderloins instead of the breasts and get the best of both worlds. 

Either way, this is a great recipe.  If you need a good chicken parmesan recipe, (and who doesn't?) you can get it HERE.  Jen was our hostess for the week and chose the recipe.

Thanks for picking a great recipe Jen!

On a side note, I love to see that my photos are getting a little better, when I posted the last chicken parmesan recipe, I was pretty happy with those photos but now I cringe looking at them!  Don't let the photos deter you. :)