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Chicken Parmigiana with Homemade Tomato Sauce

Posted on 05/23/2010 by Maura

(My camera died as I was taking a picture, so I had to use my phone–will swap out with new pics next time)!

Since my mom is basically 100% Irish, she didn’t cook Italian food too often when I was growing up.  Things like marinara sauce, lasagna, chicken parm and homemade pastas just don’t come naturally to us Irishmen.  This didn’t bother me one bit, though, because my best friend’s dad, who is Italian and an amazing cook, was always making something delicious at their house.

His cooking sets the bar for all Italian food for me and I often find myself let down by restaurant food because compared to quality and freshness of Mr. Dave’s cooking–well there just really isn’t a comparison.

Every time I went over to the DiFerdinando’s for dinner, which was basically every day, Mr. Dave was always cooking some sort of pasta and had at least one huge pot of fresh marinara sauce simmering away on the stove top.  As a testament to how often he cooks I will tell you they have a room off their kitchen called the “Pasta Room” where Mr. Dave makes fresh pastas and there is a separate mini-freezer in the garage to house his homemade stuffed shells, pastas, etc.

Obviously, there was never a shortage of Italian cooking in my life thanks to Mr. Dave and Mrs. Rita but the older I got, the more I loved Italian food and the more I wanted to learn to make it myself.  Therefore, once I started cooking I set out to create a tomato sauce to perfectly accompany my Chicken Parmigiana, as it is one of my favorite meals.

I have made so many derivatives of this recipe and finally realized a little bit of butter, some tomato paste and a bit of sugar really makes the sauce extra delicious and provides a real depth of flavor.  The parsley can be substituted for fresh basil, but I prefer both.  For now, this sauce is perfect for me, but I can’t promise I won’t keep tweaking it–I’ve been known to do that!

Maybe one day Mr. Dave will show me how he makes his.

Chicken Parmigiana with Homemade Tomato Sauce

Recipe by Maura Dieringer

Serves 4

Homemade Tomato Sauce:

Ingredients

3 tablespoons olive oil (enough to coat bottom of the pan)

1 tablespoon butter

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 small onion, diced

(1) 28 oz. can San Marzano whole tomatoes, including juices

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1/8 cup good quality red wine, optional

1/2 tablespoon sugar

1/3 cup fresh Parmesan cheese, grated

2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped

salt & pepper

Instructions

Heat olive oil and butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.  Once it is hot, add the garlic and onion and cook until fragrant and onions translucent, being careful not to burn the garlic.  Dump the entire can of tomatoes with the juices into the pan and use a wooden spoon to crush the tomatoes so there are no large chunks.  Add tomato paste, red wine, if using, sugar, Parmesan cheese and parsley.  Season with salt and pepper, tasting to make sure the sauce is seasoned just right.  Adjust the wine and sugar to suite your liking now, as well.  Turn the heat to low and allow the sauce to simmer for at least 30 minutes*.

*Do Ahead:  I make the sauce hours in advance so the flavors can marry.  I suggest doing this, as it will cut back on your dinner time preparation and the sauce tastes much better.

Chicken Parmigiana

Ingredients

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

salt & pepper

1/2 cup flour

2 eggs

1 tablespoon water

1 cup panko breadcrumbs

1 tablespoon fresh parsley, finely chopped

3 tablespoons fresh Parmesan cheese, grated + more for garnishing

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

6 oz. fresh mozzarella, torn into small pieces with your hands, grated or thinly sliced

fresh basil, chiffonade

1 pound linguine, spaghetti or angel hair pasta, cooked according to package instructions and drained

Instructions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray.

Place chicken breasts in a large ziplock bag.  With a mallet or a rolling pin, whack the meat to flatten it to about a 1/2-inch thickness.  Take the chicken out of the bag, put on a plate, pat the excess juices off with a paper towel and season both sides with salt and pepper.

Form an assembly line.  Set out three shallow bowls.  In one bowl, put the flour and season with salt and pepper.  Mix with a fork.  In the second bowl, whisk the egg and water until fully incorporated.  Season with salt and pepper and whisk one more time to incorporate.  In the third bowl, add the panko, parsley and fresh Parmesan.  Season with salt and pepper and mix with a fork.

In a large saucepan, heat olive oil and butter over medium-high heat.  Once the butter and oil is hot, add the chicken breasts.  Cook about 4 minutes on each side, until golden brown and the internal temperature reaches just 160 degrees F.

Once cooked, place the chicken on the prepared baking sheet and top each breast with an equal amount of fresh mozzarella.  Cook for about 5 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.

While the cheese is melting, heat up the pasta sauce in a sauce pan if you made it in advance.   While it is heating up, plate the pasta.  Once the cheese is melted, place one chicken breast over top of the pasta on the plate.  Scoop sauce over top, enough for the pasta too, and garnish with fresh basil.  Sprinkle with additional fresh Parmesan cheese.

Enjoy!

About Maura

I have a secret: I cannot do anything in moderation. I always have to take things to the extreme, at the expense of my own and my family's sanity and often times my dad’s checkbook. When I started taking horseback riding lessons, I insisted on having a pony. When I ice skated for probably the second time, I made my mom buy me ice skates that were never again worn. When I thought I wanted to be a teacher, I made my parents turn one of the rooms in the basement into a school room, stocked with an overhead projector, pull-down maps and a real, classroom-sized chalkboard and white board. When I discovered cooking I bossed my older sister around in the kitchen for an entire day, forcing her to make dozens of recipes with me against her will and then had her do all the dishes (sorry Cait). And, when I discovered food blogs I bought the biggest binder I could find, printed out 250 recipes in one day and laminated and categorized each one. My dad was not happy about the ink situation. So, what does this tell you about me? For one, you can trust that every recipe I post is more than delicious and has been meticulously tried and tested for you. Also, that I’m an anal freak. Enjoy! View all posts by Maura → This entry was posted in Dinner, Lunch, Pasta and tagged chicken, chicken parmigiana, fresh mozzarella, marinara sauce, parmigiana cheese, red sauce, tomato sauce. Bookmark the permalink. ← Tequila Sunrise Smoky Buttermilk Ranch Dressing over Mixed Green Salad →