Chicken Parmesan

Breaded chicken covered in marinara and cheese? What's not to like about that? Chicken Parmesan is one of those classic Italian comfort foods that became popular for a reason. It's easy, it's tasty, and relatively inexpensive. Chicken Parmesan is also quick enough for a weeknight meal, but has enough gravitas that it's great for special occasions and even entertaining.

One thing I've always been curious about, though, is why call it chicken Parmesan? Sure, it's got Parmesan cheeses in it, but there's far more mozzarella than Parmesan. Naming dishes is a real marketing trick, I suppose. Chicken mozzarella sounds heavy and pedestrian. Chicken Parmesan, though, that sounds light and rich, not only in taste but in pocket book. That's not the case, though. Done right, this won't break your wallet, or weight down your stomach.

There are a few things to keep in mind when cooking chicken Parmesan, or any other fried food, though. The oil has to be hot before you put anything in the pan. If the oil isn't ripping hot, you'll end up with greasy, flabby chicken parm. Yuck. Also, don't crowd your pan. Breaded foods need to breath. The moisture coming off of them needs room to escape or they'll start steaming each other. Soggy, waterlogged coating just doesn't cut it for me.

Before we get started, I want to talk about the chicken breast. Commercially packaged chicken breasts often have a little flap of meat attached to the side, and tucked under the breast by the butcher. This is the tenderloin. Great stuff, but it's best to remove it and fry it separately from the breast. It won't get wiped out when you pound the breast flat, that way.

Also, what's with all this “pounding out” the chicken breast? Yeah, yeah. I know. One end of the chicken breast is a lot thicker than the other and pounding the breast flat ensures even cooking.

I don't know if it's that I'm lazy, I don't like the noise, or what, but I really don't like risking tearing the meat into little shreds before I cook it. This is just a theory, mind you, but it also seems to me that smashing the bejeezus out of the meat is a great way to damage the cell walls and loose moisture. I could be wrong, but I've all but stopped flattening out my chicken breasts, that way. Instead, I carefully cut them in half, horizontally. This leaves me with two, flat pieces of chicken with even surfaces. They're not the same weight, or size, mind you. The top one is just a bit smaller, but it seems to be working out just fine. You can still pound your chicken if you want, but I don't recommend it.

One more thing. Chicken breasts have a bit of connective tissue running though them, just down one side. You can see it quite easily if you look for it. The problem with high heat and connective tissues is that it makes it contract and make things tough. There's an easy remedy, though. You can either cut it out, and cook each side separately, or you can take a paring knife and cut two or three tiny slits across it, evenly spaced through the breast. This will minimize the contractions, and make the breast more tender.

Now that I've given you the lecture portion of our recipe, it's time to getting cooking that chicken Parmesan.

Equipment needed

box grater

rasp grater (optional)

measuring cups and spoons

meat pounder (if you're still into the pounding thing)

paper towels

large skillet, nonstick is preferred

rimmed baking sheet

plastic wrap (again, this is only if you're still pounding your chicken)

tongs

3 pie plates (a good idea, but other shallow pans will work)

Ingredients

3/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 large eggs

3 cups fresh breadcrumbs

4 boneless, skinless, chicken breasts, 6-8 oz. each

salt and ground black pepper

3/4 cup cooking oil

1 cup tomato sauce or marinara

Directions

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees, Fahrenheit, with an oven rack in the middle position.

Spread the flour in a pie plate or shallow dish. Beat the eggs and pour them into a second shallow dish. Spread the breadcrumbs in a third shallow dish. Set them aside.

Trim excess fat from the chicken and make a decision. If you're going to pound your meat, lay each breast between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound it evenly until it's about 1/2-inch thick. If you're going to cut it, follow the directions above. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels and season with a pinch of salt and pepper.

Working with one piece of chicken at a time, dredge it through the flour, them dip it into the beaten eggs, coating evenly and letting the excess drip back into the dish, and then into the breadcrumbs, coating evenly. A tong works great for the first parts, but use your fingers to press the crumbs into the chicken, making sure they stick. Lay the prepared chicken on a plate and repeat with the remaining chicken.

Heat the oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, just until it starts to smoke. Add two pieces of chicken and cook until golden brown, about 3 minutes per side. Drain the chicken briefly on paper towels and transfer to a rimmed baking sheet. Repeat with the rest of the chicken.

Spoon the tomato sauce, or your favorite marinara, over the chicken, dividing it evenly between the pieces. Divide the mozzarella, sprinkling it over the chicken, followed by the Parmesan. Bake the chicken until the cheese is melted and browned, about 7 to 10 minutes.

Makes 4 servings.

Making Chicken (or Turkey) Stock

Times being what they are, with the economy kicking us in the wallet, we need to take stock of our finances. Why not save some money by turning the bones of all those roasted turkeys, chickens, hams and whatever other animals my you're planning on devouring this holiday season, into stock? It beats buying stock it at the grocery store, and it tastes better too.

I've been doing a lot of reading on making stock, recently. Of course, that means something that used to be a simple procedure for me has suddenly become more complex. According to Jacques Pépin, the French create several kinds of stocks and glazes through reduction. Brown stock, white stock, demi-glace (half-glaze), glace de viande, jus, broth ... it's enough to make your head spin.

I've been experimenting with these things and to be honest, it still confuses me. The best I've been able to figure out so far is that if you reduce a regular stock by about half, you get a demi-glace. Reduce by half again (or more) and you get glace de viande. If you cook fresh bones, you get a white stock. If you roast them in the oven until they turn brown, before you boil them, you get a brown stock.

I'm not going to go into all the variations until I feel more comfortable with them. Instead, I'm going to share a simple way to make a chicken or turkey stock.

Whenever I have a left over chicken or turkey carcass, I save the bones to make stock with. It's okay if there's a bit of meat left on the bones. I don't know if you're really saving money, given the cost or the electricity or gas used to make it, but home made stock has better flavor, and a lot less sodium, than the store bought kind. I've still not gotten the hang of making a perfectly clear stock, but I'm working on it.

A good stock will actually have very little flavor. Stocks serve as a vehicle for other flavors when cooking. Some purists tell methat stock should have no flavor at all. I think they're daft. If you want no flavor at all, why go to the trouble and expense of stock? Just use water.

This is the simple way to make a white stock using chicken or turkey, so there's no cooking the bones beforehand. The fact that they've been cooked a bit in the bird doesn't seem to matter. You'll notice that there's no salt in the stock. That's so if you reduce it, it won't become too salty.

Equipment needed
Stockpot, Dutch Oven, or other large cooking pot
Strainer
Kirtchen Knife
Skimmer or large spoon

Ingredients
1 left over chicken or turkey carcass
1 medium onion, peeled and halved
1 celery stalk, rough chopped
1 medium carrot, rough chopped
1/2 teaspoon thyme leaves
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
2 bay leaves

Directions
Break the carcass up so it will fit in your largest pot. The last turkey I had was so big, I ended up cooking the bones in two batches. Add the vegetables and herbs. Add cold water to cover the ingredients.

Bring the water to a boil over high heat. Skim off any foam or other scum (albumin) as it forms. Reduce the heat to a very gentle simmer. Simmer, uncovered, for at least three hours. If you cover the pot, or boil it too fast, much of the fat and albumin will be emulsified back into the liquid, making a cloudy stock that is less digestible and nutritious.

After 3 hours, remove the pot from the heat and strain the stock through a fine mesh sieve or colander. A chinois is the best option, but a sieve works fine for home cooking. Refrigerate overnight. Left over fat and albumin will separate from the liquids and solidify, making fat removal easier.

Put the stock in freezer bags or other air-tight containers and freeze.

If you want, you can boil the bones again. The resulting stock won't be as strong, but it's almost like getting a second batch for free.

This last time I made stock this way, I was able to make about 2 gallons of stock, a quart of demi-glace (the stock reduced by half or more), and a half cup of glace de viande (the stock reduced until all or nearly all of the water is gone). All of them tasted delicious. Not too bad for one left over turkey carcass and a few vegetables. I guess I was just stocking up for Christmas.

I've been trying to save the vegetable trimmings when I'm cutting up vegetables, to make vegetable stock with, but I'm not as good at it. I never get enough vegetables together to make stock before they start to go bad. What I ought to do is freeze them. Over time I'm sure I'd have enough to make vegetable stock with.

Photo by Mathieu Bernadat

Yes Virginia. If you click on the equipment links and buy something, I make money. You knew that already, though.

Not Quite Indian Food - Chicken Tikka Masala

Chicken Tikka Masala isn't actually an Indian recipe, but the flavors are such that you wouldn't know that it comes from Great Britain. An amazingly popular dish, “chicken tikka” refers to the chicken being marinated in yogurt and spices before cooking. A “masala” is simply a mix of spices, referring to the sauce.

Normally this curry is served with turmeric rice or nan bread, although it's just as good with white rice. The recipe calls for chicken breasts, but you could use the thigh meat or even pork and still get good results. If you can't find garam masala, curry powder can be used instead. Try them both and find out which one you like better.

The first time I made this recipe, I followed the recipe exactly. It was way to salty – enough to make you gag, salty. I've dropped the quantities down and allowed for adding more salt at the end as needed. Much better.

Keep the ingredients for the marinade and the sauce separate. It will make things easier.

Equipment needed:

cutting board	kitchen knife	2 frying pans
measuring spoons	measuring cups	mixing bowl
large spoon

Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts, cut into 3/4 inch pieces
3 tablespoons light olive oil

For the marinade

1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon garam masala
5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
6 tablespoons plain yogurt

For the sauce

3 tablespoons canola oil
2 medium onions, finely chopped
32 oz. can diced tomatoes, drained well
5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon garam masala
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
7 tablespoons water
chopped parsley for garnish
Extra salt as needed

Directions:

To make the marinade, put the salt, garam masala, garlic, ginger, and yogurt into a mixing bowl and blend with a fork. Add the chicken pieces and toss them in the marinade, coating them completely. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rest for about 15 minutes.

To make the sauce, heat the canola oil in the first frying pan over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and saute until soft and slightly brown. Add the remaining garlic and ginger and saute for a couple of minutes. Stir frequently so you don't burn the garlic. Add the tomatoes and saute just for a few moments until most of the moisture has evaporated.

Stir in the cumin powder, garam masala, salt and sugar. Reduce the heat to medium low and continue to saute for about 2 minutes. Stir in the water and simmer, uncovered, about 2 minutes more.

In a second frying pan, heat 3 tablespoons of light olive oil over medium heat. Add the marinated chicken and gently saute until completely cooked. Don't bother wiping off the marinade, just toss it all in.

Add the sauce mixture to the chicken and mix well. Adjust the salt and other spices, as needed. Bring the sauce to a brief boil and remove from the heat.

Transfer the chicken to a serving dish and garnish with chopped parsley and additional yogurt, if you want to tone down the spices. Serve with turmeric rice, white rice, or with nan bread.

Serves 6

Balsamic Chicken Skewers for New Years

Although Christmas is over, New Years is looming. If you're like me, you're on the lookout for party food recipes. This recipe for Balsamic Chicken Skewers comes as a “guest blog” from Mary Crafts of Culinary Crafts Catering, by way of Katie Nielsen. Culinary Crafts is an award winning catering service based in Salt Lake City. If you don't want to cook for that big party yourself, you may want to check them out.

Mary Crafts also hosts a really cool cooking show called Culinary Creations, broadcast out of Provo, Utah on KBYU-TV. She's got some pretty slick recipes and entertaining ideas. No wonder, coming from a top-rated caterer.

Thanks to Katie for the recipe, and to Mary for giving us permission to reprint it.

Balsamic Chicken Skewers

1 lb boneless chicken thighs cut into 1 inch pieces
1 cup soy sauce

Marinate chicken pieces in soy sauce for 4 hours (up to 24 hours).
Thread chicken pieces on skewers. Roast in 400º oven for 15 minutes.
Remove from oven and brush chicken with Balsamic Chutney Glaze. Return them to the oven and roast for 5 more minutes to finish.

Makes about 16 skewers

Balsamic Chutney Glaze:

1 cup mango chutney
2 sliced scallions
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro

Combine the ingredients in a bowl and use as a glaze.

[I've not tried it, but I'd bet that if you cooked these in a skillet for a few minutes, it would create an amazing sauce to top other chicken or pork dishes. - MF]

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Chicken and Vegetable Stir-Fry

Stir-fried vegetables, served over rice or ramen noodles, is a staple for my family. They're simple, quick, tasty, and healthy. If I've got some chicken, pork, beef, or some other meat hanging around I'll throw that in, too. A favorite with me and the kids is to skip the meat and add firm tofu instead.

I'm so glad my kids like tofu!

The secrets of stir-frying, as I see them, are four fold:

1. Cut the meat (or tofu) and vegetables small enough to fit on a fork (or pick up with chopsticks), and thin enough to maximize the surface area.
2. Use high enough heat to cook the vegetables quickly, but maintain crispness.
3. Cook each ingredient only until it's done, and no more. You want each ingredient to be cooked to it's own perfection. This may involved cooking each ingredient separately, and then recombining them to heat through in the end.
4. In order to do points two and three effectively, you've got to keep the food moving in the pan. That's why it's called stir-frying, for heaven's sake!

One of the great advantages of a stir-fry is that you can use whatever you have on hand. You don't need to make a special trip for ingredients, unless you want to of course.

Here's what my daughter and I made together a couple of Sunday's ago:

Chicken and Vegetable Stir-Fry

Ingredients

2 boneless chicken breasts
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 yellow onion, chopped (I prefer using green onions, but we didn't have any on hand).
1 cup baby carrots, cut into thin strips (With full sized carrots, cut into thin slices on a bias. This makes pretty ovals that are easy to handle with chopsticks.)
Two stalks of celery, chopped
1 can (6 oz.?) of sliced water chestnuts
1 green pepper, rough chopped
1/4 cup sherry
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
3/4 cup water
1 cube chicken bouillon
1/2 tsp ground ginger (fresh is better)
2 cloves garlic, minced
Peanut oil

Rinse the chicken and cut into 1" pieces. Toss with 1 tbsp of the cornstarch to coat, and set aside. Cut the vegetables and set aside in individual dishes (My family washes and reuses plastic sour cream tubs for this).

Heat the water, and dissolve the bouillon cube in it. If you've got some chicken or vegetable stock on hand, that would be better.

Heat a wok or large non-stick frying pan on medium high heat. Add about one tbsp of peanut oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Because we are going to cook each ingredient separately, you may need to add more oil from time to time. Just try not to overdo it.

Add the onions and garlic, and cook until the onions just start to get a bit brown. Remove from pan and set aside.

Reduce heat to medium and add chicken to the pan. You may need to add more oil. Add the chicken/cornstarch mixture to the pan and cook until it's no longer pink inside, and the outside is just a nice golden color. Remove from pan. Make sure you put it in a clean bowl, not the one you mixed it up in. We don't want to risk getting salmonella, here.

Cook the other vegetables, one at a time, removing them after they have been cooked through, but still a bit crispy. It's better to undercook them than overcook them.

De-glaze the pan by adding the sherry. When it quits bubbling quite so hard (showing that the alcohol has been evaporated), return all the ingredients to the pan and gently stir together.

Now that the bouillon or stock is cooled, mix the bouillon with the soy sauce, ginger, and remaining tbsp of cornstarch. Add the mixture to the pan. Cook, while stirring, until the sauce is thick and bubbly. Add salt or soy sauce to taste.

Serve over cooked rice or noodles in individual bowls, and enjoy!

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