Is it a bad sign that when I made my husband’s favorite dish for dinner this week, he was terrified? Had I bought something expensive? Was the car totaled? There had to be some bad news. Why else would I make chicken parmigiana on a random weeknight? (The truth is, I was just in the mood for it myself. Also, I bought a handbag.)
Yes, my husband’s all-time favorite food is chicken parmigiana, also known as chicken parmesan. For many years, if we were somewhere that had chicken parmesan on the menu, he would order it. I believe he was working on the definitive study of the dish. When he was a young man living in New York City, every time he and his friend Dan would try a new diner, they would order a chicken parmesan and a spinach pie to share. Clearly, those were the two dishes by which you judged the quality of a diner.
But a few years ago, both my husband and I lost what was for each of us a significant amount of weight on Weight Watchers and we changed our eating habits for good. Now, my husband rarely orders chicken parmesan in restaurants, finding restaurant versions to be too heavy and fattening. In fact, these days, my husband is a very disciplined eater and does things like order salad when we go to our favorite barbecue restaurant, Piggyback Tavern. (Zuzu and I just shake our heads sadly as we ate our pulled pork sandwiches and fries.)
So, I decided to come up with a lighter version of chicken parmesan that my husband can feel okay about indulging in once in a while. I start with a chunky, homemade marinara sauce so that we all get a nice serving of vegetables. I pan-fry breaded chicken cutlets in a small amount of olive oil so that they are crunchy on the outside and juicy on the inside without being heavy or greasy. And then I top the dish with only a cup of grated, part-skim mozzarella before baking. That is enough to give the dish gooey threads of cheese without jacking up the calorie count.
This chicken parmesan has a lot of parts, but you can spread out the work so it feels less burdensome. You can make marinara sauce ahead of time and keep it the refrigerator for a few days, or in the freezer for a few months. You can also sauté the cutlets and place them in the baking dish in advance if need be. The night I made this, my husband was picking up Zuzu from swim practice at 7 pm and they wouldn’t be home until sometime after that. I assembled the casserole while JR was eating his dinner, which was about an hour before I wanted to bake it. Then I took JR upstairs and put him to bed. Once my husband and Zuzu got home, I popped the chicken parmesan in a preheated oven and we sat down to eat fifteen minutes later.
But then, of course, the questions came. Why had I made Daddy’s favorite dinner on a regular Tuesday night? Apparently, I can’t just make something nice for my husband without everyone wondering why I was buttering him up. So, don’t make my mistake. Save this chicken parmigiana recipe for Father’s Day when your husband (or dad) won’t be suspicious of your motives.
- Sauce:
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 carrots, peeled and diced
- 2 TB extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tsp. dried basil
- 1 tsp. dried oregano
- Pinch red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp. tomato paste
- 2 28 oz. cans diced or chopped plum tomatoes
- 1 tsp. sugar
- Chicken cutlets:
- 1.5 lbs. hand-filleted chicken breast cutlets
- 1 cup flour
- 1 egg
- 2 cups Panko or other dried bread crumbs
- 3 TB olive oil
- 1 cup grated part-skim mozzarella cheese
- ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- To make the sauce, heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large Dutch oven or saucepan.
- Add the onions and sauté until softened, about five minutes.
- Add the carrots and the garlic.
- Saute the vegetables over medium-low heat until tender and softened, about 10 minutes
- Season with basil, oregano, red pepper flakes and salt and pepper and sauté an additional few minutes until the herbs are fragrant.
- Add the tomato paste and stir to combine.
- Add the canned tomatoes and sugar, stirring to combine, and raise the heat.
- Bring tomato sauce to a boil, and then turn heat down and simmer until thickened, at least thirty minutes. Feel free to simmer the sauce on very low heat for longer if your schedule permits.
- While the sauce is simmering, prepare the chicken cutlets.
- Heat the olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over high heat.
- Make an assembly line with two plates and a shallow soup bowl in the middle. In the first plate, add the flour and season it well with salt and pepper. Add the egg to the soup bowl with a splash of water and beat together. Add half the bread crumbs to the third plate.
- Pat the chicken cutlets dry with paper towels. Dredge the first cutlet in the flour, coating both sides and shaking to remove any excess, then dip it in the egg mixture. Finally dredge the cutlet in the bread crumbs, pressing down slightly so that they adhere. Turn it over and repeat with the other side.
- Add the cutlet to the hot skillet, adjusting the heat to medium if necessary.
- When the bottom is browned and crispy, which should only take a few minutes, flip the cutlet over to brown the other side.
- Repeat the coating process with the remaining cutlets, adding more bread crumbs as necessary.
- Once they are coated, add the cutlets to the skillet, but do not cook more than two or three cutlets at a time, depending on the size of the skillet. Work in batches as necessary, draining the cooked cutlets on paper towels.
- Meanwhile, ladle sauce into a 2-quart baking dish to cover the bottom and preheat the oven to 450.
- When the cutlets are browned and crispy on both sides, place them in the baking dish. Cover with more sauce. (You may have sauce leftover, which is fine.)
- Top with grated cheeses and bake fifteen minutes, until the cheese is melted and bubbling.
- Serve over pasta or polenta, passing the extra sauce on the side.
