A classic Italian dish, Chicken Parmigiana is another old favourite of mine. This version is similar to that on chef Kurt Sampson's menu at the Windsor Castle, a gastro pub in Melbourne a few years back. An essential item appearing on every Melbourne menu, competition is fierce for where to get the best & reputations are garnered by those known for cooking a quality Chicken Parmigiana. Prepping for a regular weekend at the Windsor over the summer months, knowing the garden bar will be cranking, part of my Friday mis-en-plus included the butchering batoning & crumbing of 120 breasts, sometimes more. Either way, I'd often find myself running out late Sunday arvo.
It is important to be aware that not all Chicken Parmigianas are created equal. I am often asked to hold cooking classes & Chicken Parmigiana is a popular dish that students often choose to learn. As for myself, I can never resist to give it a try when I get the chance & have ordered it off menus in establishments ranging from a truck stop diner in outback WA; a tourist restaurant in Pisa, Italy; a municipal albergue in Estella, Nth Spain, along the Camino de Santiago; I've even dined on Chicken Parmigiana during an overnight ferry crossing from Ostend to Dover, many years ago. Easily adapted to different types of occasions, this is just as suitable a dish to serve in the garden bar of a Melbourne pub as in a fancy Italian restaurant. I laughed when I watched the movie Mr Deeds, with Adam Sandler, in which he plays a character who unexpectedly inherits 80 billion dollars &, in a scene where he is trying his best to impress his date, played by Winona Ryder, having made reservations at New York's finest establishment, what is the dish he orders them both for dinner? Chicken Parmigiana! So, it follows, that there are many versions of Chicken Parmigiana.
It's a great dish for dinner at home & preparing it is a simple matter of following just a few easy steps. There are three main points of difference in preparing this version of Chicken Parmigiana that I'd like to draw attention to. Firstly, preparing the breast itself; secondly, details in making the sauce; thirdly, the replacement of wheat based ingredients with gluten free alternatives.
Ingredients: Tomato Sauce:
olive oil/butter
garlic/onion/tomatoes
tomato
puree
thyme/s'n'p
*an onion, whole garlic, whole tomatoes & a squeeze of tomato puree in a covered pan with olive oil
*pan roast in the oven til just starting to caramelize
*peel & scoop seeds out, blitz together (stick blender works for me here)
Ingredients: Saltimbocca Potatoes:
gormet potatoes, jersey benneies, pearlas, agrias all work well
whole fresh sage leaves/strips of streaky bacon or proscuito, one per potatio
olive oil, s'n'p
toothpicks
Method: Saltimbocca Potatoes
*3 or 4 per person, same size, clean & wash potatoes
* peel a strip of skin around the middle of each potato, drop into pot of boiling water & cook til the hardness is just giving way to being cooked - about 2/3 cooked
*remove from water, wrap each with a sage leaf, then again with bacon or proscuito, securing with a tooth pick
*in a hot pan with olive oil, toss the potatoes gently to brown, season, then into the oven for 5-10 minutes
*serve immediately
Ingredients: Chicken Parmigiana:
chicken breast -1 whole, skinned
chicpea flour/milk&egg/ gluten free bread crumbs -a cup of each
glad wrap
enough tomato sauce/parmesan cheese to cover the breast generously
Method:Chicken Parmigiana:
* remove breast from chicken frame
*place the breast between two sheets of glad wrap & with a flat object, the bottom of a fry pan works if you dont have a meat tenderising hammer, baton flat a little, so its all even
^in seasoned
flour, then egg, then crumbs coat the flattened chicken breast
*pan fry on one
side, turn, season
*cover fillet with tomato sauce, then with
cheese
*place in hot
oven, 5-10 mins, til the cheese starts to brown
Ingredients: Coleslaw:
red cabbage/bok choy/spinach/spring onions, cut to a fine chiffonade
carrot/celery, cut to a fine julienne
pumpkin&sesame seeds/almond&walnut pieces, toasted
alfalfa shoots
to dress, a light mayonnaise or, in this case, a honey vinaigrette
Method: Coleslaw:
*in a bowl, combine all the ingredients in turn, tossing together & dressing only at the last moment
Vegetarians! substituting a nice slice of aubergine for the chicken works here, following the exact same proceedure, to give you Milanzano Parmigiano, equally as famous, not to mention equally as delicious. I even used some of the left over cooked gormet potatoes, cut them into discs, tomato'n'cheesed them & grilled myself some little Baby Potato Parimgianas, little canape style bite-sized mouthfuls for when I was cleaning the kitchen down afterwards. Delicioso!
-ciao!
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