kitchen domesticity: chicken parmigiana

I think I've mentioned in my last two recipe posts how my husband's and my tastes diverge. I should take this opportunity to mention that there is one cuisine we consistently, emphatically agree upon: ITALIAN.

I've been wanting to find a good recipe for chicken parmigiana, especially because I wanted to make my beloved chicken parmigiana sub sandwich. There are days - non-pregnant ones, no less - where I sepnd my day CRAVING this sandwich. When it's good, it's heavenly. When it's bad, it's still kinda better than a lot of stuff out there. I'm not sure why I haven't tried to make it sooner - I don't always have the best of luck cooking chicken breasts, but it turns out that chicken cutlets fry up soooo much better. So when I came across this recipe (which uses chicken cutlets), I knew I had to take the plunge and give it a try. I didn't put it on bread only because my local grocery store was all out of sub rolls (freshly made ones, anyway) but lemme tell you, this is quite good. I'm also glad to have a new chicken recipe in our weekly dinner arsenal.

Now, if only someone would part with $80 and buy me this sweet little recipe box, I could write it out all nice and pretty-like...

Chicken Parmigiana (many thanks, Martha. It's a good thing.)

* 3/4 cup Italian-seasoned panko breadcrumbs (Progresso makes them)
* 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
* 8 chicken cutlets (about 1 1/2 pounds total), or 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, halved horizontally
* Salt and freshly ground pepper
* 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
* 2 cups jarred tomato sauce (or your own homemade, whatever)
* 1/4 cup olive oil
* 6 ounces mozzarella cheese, preferably fresh, cut into eight 1/4-inch-thick slices

Heat broiler. Combine breadcrumbs and Parmesan in a shallow bowl. Season both sides of chicken with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Dip chicken in the beaten egg, then dredge in breadcrumb mixture, turning to coat both sides.  I found it was easiest to coat/dredge all pieces at once and then transfer them to a plate, ready to cook.

Spread tomato sauce onto the bottom of a 10-by-15-inch baking dish. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Place 4 chicken cutlets in skillet; cook until golden, 1 to 2 minutes on each side.  Repeat with the last 4 cutlets (yeah, you'll need to add some more oil - the remaining two tablespoons).

Using a spatula, transfer browned cutlets to baking dish, placing them on top of sauce. Repeat with remaining oil and cutlets.

Top each cutlet with a slice of mozzarella. As you can see, I was a bit, well, CREATIVE when I was slicing the mozzarella.  I don't know if I didn't have the right knife or the right technique, but it all came out well in the end.  So if your slices look as lopsided as mine, no worries.

Broil about 4 inches from heat source until sauce is hot and cheese is melted and lightly browned in spots, 5 to 8 minutes. Serve immediately. 

Okay, this smelled SO good that by the time I remembered to take a final picture, this is what was left (also, the light was bad):

Yes, it was every bit as delicious as I'd hoped it would be.  I can't WAIT to put this on a sub!