Short-Cut Chicken Parm

It's Friday night and I have no energy to cook, but unfortunately I need to cut back on ordering take-out. I had chicken in the fridge but I am so sick of tossing together grilled chicken and veggies. (Sorry to start this off complaining...but what's a girl to do?) I had a craving for breaded chicken and just as I was starting to cook, it hit me. Make Chicken Parmesan!

The funny thing about this idea is that I've probably only had a bite or two of Chicken parm in my life. I've never ordered it a restaurant and have never attempted to make it myself...but why not, now?

Having never made this dish before, I only knew that the dish contained breaded chicken covered in red sauce and mozzarella so I checked with my trusty friends at Food Network.

I found this great recipe that had the perfect kick of flavor in the bread crumbs and used a quick trick to speed up the cook time. Rather than baking the chicken I fried the breaded chicken in a skillet, topped it with sauce once it was cooked then covered in mozzarella. To melt the mozz, I covered my pan and let it simmer.

The dish turned out great. The funny thing about it...the spices in the breadcrumbs were so delicious I almost wished I had left off the sauce.


Recipe:
1 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
4 teaspoons paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 egg whites
1/2 cup skim milk
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
4 (6 ounce) skinless boneless chicken breast halves, pounded to 1/2-inch thickness
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 jar good-quality marinara sauce (about 3 1/2 cups)
3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella (or 4 slices of fresh mozz)
2 tablespoons (1/2-ounce) shredded Parmesan
8 oz linguine noodles

Directions:
1) In a medium bowl, toss the crumbs with oregano, garlic powder, paprika, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. In another bowl, whisk the egg whites and milk together. In a third bowl stir together the flour, and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Dip each piece of chicken, 1 piece at a time, in flour, shaking off excess, then egg, then bread crumbs, shaking off excess.

2) (This is the part that I did my own thing.) Heat 2 tbsp of oil on medium-high in a large skillet. Once heated, place breaded chicken and cook each side 3 to 4 minutes. Once cooked through, lower heat to medium-low and add 3/4's of the jar of sauce. Top with mozzarella and cover. Let dish simmer for 5 minutes, or until cheese has melted.

3) While chicken is cooking, boil linguine as directed on box. Drain, rinse then top with 1/4 of the pasta sauce.

4) Serve chicken over noodles and enjoy!