Chicken Parmigiana As Measuring Tool:
In my opinion, chicken parmigiana is the basic Italian dish by which Italian restaurants and cooks can be quickly measured. In this way, you can consider this dish the yard stick of Italian food. On the other hand, chicken parm is considered the basic Italian entree, the “safe and boring” choice if you will, typically difficult to be screwed up so badly that you won’t enjoy your meal.
If a restaurant has prepared a dish of chicken parmigiana that is up to standards, then that is a restaurant that is worth continuing to explore. If they flub this dish though, it might not be worth going on to anything else on the menu. There are three important staples of Italian food in the chicken parmigiana dish: the sauce, the poultry, and the cheese. There is nothing better than a well cooked chicken cutlet, topped with a helping of perfectly done red sauce and fresh melted cheese.
My basic chicken parmigiana recipe:
- Prep Time: 20m
- Cook Time: 1h
- Total Time: 1h 20m
- Serves: 8
- Yield: 8 chicken parmigiana cutlets
Ingredients
- 8 chicken cutlets
- 4 cups marinara sauce
- 16 thin slices fresh mozzarella cheese
- 2 cup bread crumbs (for dredging)
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups flour (for dredging)
- 2 tbsp. parsley
Instructions
- Set oven to bake, preheat to 400 degrees. Add vegetable oil to a skillet, put over medium heat on stove top.
- Place chicken cutlets between saran wrap. Pound each cutlet until approximately 1/4” to 1/2” thickness.
- Dredge each chicken cutlet in the flour. Dip entire cutlet into egg wash, dredge through the bread crumbs to fully coat chicken with a layer of breadcrumbs.
- When skillet has heated up, fry the chicken cutlets in the vegetable oil until light golden brown. Do not overcook.
- Coat the bottom and lower sides of an oven-safe dish with marinara sauce. Place the cooked chicken cutlets on top of the marinara sauce. Cover each chicken cutlet with a generous ladel-full of marinara sauce.
- Cover each chicken cutlet with 2-3 slices of the fresh mozzarella.
- Cover and place dish into oven and bake for 45 minutes or until mozzarella cheese has sufficiently melted.
- Remove from oven, garnish cutlets with fresh cut parsley and basil, and serve over a bed of spaghetti and remaining marinara sauce or on Italian bread as a sub.
The only problem is, this isn’t a dish from Italy. It’s Italian-American, but not Italian. You typically won’t find this on the menu at a ristorante in Italy. Certainly not an authentic one. The dish derives from Melanzana Parmigiana (Eggplant Parmigiana). There are a number of theories as to how eggplant came to be substituted with chicken, including the likelihood eggplant couldn’t be found as readily. Combine that with American’s love of meat over vegetables in their main courses, and you get Chicken Parmigiana.
But I suppose in America, an Italian-ish restaurant should be able to make a good Chicken Parmigiana.
Thanks for your comment Dave! I absolutely agree with you. This was my very first post of this blog, back when I wasn’t really thinking as critically about the distinction between authentic Italian versus Italian-American cuisine. The point is well made.