Chicken Parmesan

Ingredients

Tomato Paste

  • 4 large cloves garlic
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • Put in a mortar and pestle with a drizzle EVOO and crush
  • Add to medium pan over medium heat with 2 Tbsp. regular olive oil and cook for 2 minutes
  • Add 3 anchovy fillets and ¼ tsp red pepper flakes and cook until anchovies break down
  • Drain 1 28-oz can of tomatoes Cento or Red Pack (save juice for Bloody Marys)
  • Add tomatoes to garlic in the pan and break down with wooden spoon
  • Add 2” square of Parmesan rind (or whatever is available)
  • Reduce until nearly dry (about 1 hour)
  • Remove Parmesan rind
  • Store for up to 2 weeks in frig or freeze forever

Note:

Can be broken up later with sauce-milk-wine-butter

Chicken

  • Remove ‘tender’ and butterfly 1 breast
  • Cut from chubby-clean-curved (non-tender) edge and leave center edge attached
  • Cover with plastic wrap-spritz with water and pound to ⅛“with flat pounder
  • (Used drill battery for pounder)
  • Season the chicken with 1 tsp of salt and let it rest for 30 minutes on paper towels (in the frig)

For breading crunch up in a 1 gallon plastic bag:

  • 120 grams plain bread crumbs
  • 2 tsp dried oregano
  • 2 tsp dried parsley
  • 1½ tsp garlic powder
  • 70 grams flour
  • 20 grams S&V potato chips

Remove chicken from frig and blot off brine to make chicken really dry
Coat the chicken with flour and put it on a cooling rack/baking sheet on the left side of the stove and let it rest for a few minutes

Beat 1 egg and paint both sides of the chicken with it
Put on the bread crumb mix and pat down the bread crumbs
Flip over the chicken and repeat with the bread crumbs

On the right side of the stove place a cookie sheet with paper towels and an INVERTED rack

In sauté pan heat 1-2 tbsp. olive oil & 2-3 tbsp. butter over medium heat (burnt second side??)

When butter foams put in chicken in the pan and fry for 3 minutes per side

Move to ‘finished’ rack

On a small (¼) baking sheet pan spread out about ⅔ of paste/sauce but set aside enough to cover the chicken for the upcoming sauce and cheese broil

Broil the paste/sauce for about 2-3 minutes in the top third of the oven

Remove from oven and set aside some on the final serving plate

Put on fried chicken on the remaining paste/sauce on the baking sheet

Put the remaining un-broiled paste/sauce onto chicken

Scatter on cheese using whatever dry cheese is available to combine with mozzarella

2 oz mozzarella – shredded or cut into small chunks

2 oz Italian fontina (or whatever dry cheese) – shredded

Return to oven and broil until cheese is bubbly and nice about 1-3 minutes watch carefully

Plate onto sauce and top with a little chopped parsley and maybe basil

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