Saturday cooking thread (chicken breast + tomato sauce)

[El Diablo]

OK, inspired by JBB's chicken breast thread, I've been playing around with some of the suggestions there. The nuggets I posted about in that thread turned out great (see pic in that thread).

Today I decided to try a chicken-parm type thing.

First I made a tomato sauce. I didn't really know what to do here, so I just winged it. Started with a 28oz can of crushed tomatoes, chopped up two small fresh tomatoes, an onion, and some garlic. Put that all on the stove, added some salt and pepper and let it cook. After a while, it didn't really taste right, so I did a little searching online. Added a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, a couple tablespoons of brown sugar, and some more spices, and soon it was tasting great.

For the chicken, I first flattened them (I think that was the main reason I wanted to try this), then seasoned w/ salt/pepper/garlic powder. I then had a great idea for a coating. I mixed up some grated parmesan/romano and some flour and added some spices. I lightly coated the breasts in that.

I wanted to try the chicken in the oven instead of pan-frying it, so I tossed it in for 30-35 minutes or so at 375. When the chicken was done, the coating looked like goopy crap and was just barely starting to brown, so I just scraped that crap off and threw it away. The breasts looked juicy and delicious.

I then put a slice of cheese (swiss, since I didn't have any provolone) on the chicken breasts and broiled for a couple of minutes 'til it melted, then covered with tomato sauce. Delicious.




OK. What are you guys cooking today?

[kipin]

Diablo,

That looks pretty bad, I hope it tastes better than it looks.

Hungy,
kipin

P.S. Did you use swiss cheese made by Kraft?

[El Diablo]

kipin,

It tasted delicious. I used Jarlsberg swiss.

[kipin]

The cheese had a curious looking plastic look to it, something a Kraft processed cheese would look like.

[Raul Wong]

El D,

If you are a slly ginny, then you might know what I am talking about, but if you arent I will enlighten you...

Go to your butcher and ask for spedini(sp?). It is basically just really thinny sliced veal in the shape of 4in triangles. Then you wrap cheese in the veal kinda like how you wrap a burrito or something. Then you saute the birds in a skillet until they are done.

Of course, the birds are kinda bland by themselves so you should also saute some onions and mushrooms for garnish and flavor. You can also make grilled some polenta to serve with the birds which is fantastic. Its about three now and my mom is making them for dinner tonight as a treat before I go back to college tommorrow. The fridge is also of course loaded with coranas to ensure that when I get on my plane tommorrow to fly back to boston I will still be wasted.

WONG

[surfinillini]

that looks [censored] sick

did you take a pic of that, lots of time on your hands eh?

[man]

that actually looks pretty good to me.

I had two bowls of life cereal for dinner tonight! [censored] I need to get a wife.

[amoeba]

next time, mix parmesan with panko (japanese breadcrumbs) and pan fry. because the chicken is so thin, you don't need to deepfry thus the fat issue is not really there.

The sauce looks a bit chunky and its not really tomatoe season so I might have left out the fresh tomatoes but to each his own. you could always puree it if you want it smoother.

[Six_of_One]

Looks good...you might want to try it with a slice of ham on top of the chicken, that way it's kind of like chicken cordon bleu without having to go through the hassle of slicing the chicken breast open.

[russellmj]

Top w/ a small amount of fresh chopped oregano?