"Fork Tender" and "Melt in Your Mouth" Chicken Parmesan

Tomatoes preserved from our garden, fresh onion, garlic, and parsley make this a chocked full of flavor main dish.

It is a day to be noted when my husband Brian is all about the chicken.  It is NOT his favorite dish unless it is deep fried tenders with a little container of BBQ sauce to dip it into!!  So when he raved about this dinner dish last night I grabbed the camera and jotted down how I had put it together.  Truth be told I had planned to just grill the chicken and serve it warm sliced across the top of our salads on Monday and he turned up his nose at chicken that day.  I was left with two thawed skinless and boneless chicken breasts that I had asked my butcher to run through the tenderizer the day I purchased them.  (It is that thing they run the cube steaks through.)

So here I was, what to do with my chicken as not to waste it!!  If I would have had fresh spinach on hand I would have gone a different direction but alas.....no spinach.   Here is what evolved from what I rustled up!!

The sauce:

1-2 T. olive oil
1 large chopped onion
8 cloves of garlic chopped
1/3 C. dry red wine (I used Merlot use whatever YOU like.)
3-4 C. peeled, cored, and seeded tomatoes thawed from the freezer (last bag!)
1/4 C rough chop parsley
1 t. salt
1/2 t.  freshly ground black pepper
a good shake of Parmesan cheese

Heat the oil and saute the onions in a large skillet for about4-5 minutes until golden.  Add the garlic and wine and cook until  the liquid is reduced.   Stir in the tomatoes, parsley, salt, pepper, and a generous shake of cheese.  Reduce heat to simmer and proceed to the chicken.

The chicken:

2 skinless boneless chicken breasts ( If your chicken has not been tenderized, pound it between layers of plastic to a thickness of about 1/4".)
1/2 C. flour
1/2 t. salt
good pinch of freshly ground black pepper
1 egg
1-2 T. water
2/3 C. dry pread crumbs or panko crumbs
1/3 C. Parmesan cheese plus more for the topping

Set up an assembly line using flat shallow dishes as follows:  Dish 1. Combine flour, salt, and pepper.  Dish 2.  Beat together in a pie plate the egg and water.  Dish 3.  Mix the crumbs and cheese.

Preheat the oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat and quickly.....

Dip the chicken on both sides in the flour, then the eggs, and lastly the crumbs.  Saute the chicken in the hot oil on both sides for 2-3 minutes per side until golden.  Add more oil if needed and adjust the heat as needed.  Remove the chicken and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Butter a glass baking dish just large enough for the chicken pieces to set side by side.  Spoon half of the sauce across the bottom of the dish then place the chicken atop the sauce.  Spoon the remainder of the sauce over the chicken and top generously with additional cheese.  Bake for 30 minutes and serve over angel hair pasta cooked al dente.  Add a vegetable or side salad and it's dinner.  I hope you like this as much as we did, in my daughter-in-laws words it is a do-over!! and over and over....