minimalist chicken parm

While you are about as likely to find it on any menu in Italy as you are fettucine alfredo or gabagool, chicken parm is kind of “authentic” in its own way in that it instantly comes to mind when you think of checkered tablecloths and waiters with white plastic rotary cheese graters, the kind of dish the Rat Pack would eat in their personal booths at the restaurants they owned in the 1950s. The lore and the romance of chicken parm as an Italian dish despite no clear or definitive relationship to actual Italy are definition “Italian enough.” I think I might’ve been eating it when I came up with the name of this site.

Chicken Parm and Chicken Milanese are nearly identical, differentiated only by the presence of sauce and cheese. As Milan and Parma are 1 hour and 45 minutes apart on the autostrada, it makes sense there’d be some crossover in cooking techniques. Only Parmigiana likely isn’t from Parma at all, but from Sicily similar to most other Red-Saucy cuisine, which would explain how it ended up popular during the Jerseytalian renaissance of the 1900s. But regardless of where it comes from (because you know multiple regions insist it’s theirs) or how far it had to travel, the identical technique for both dishes means that learning one enables you to make the other automatically. And staring down some leftovers of Milanese today, I realized: all Milanese has the possibility for a second life as Parmigiana, regardless of whether or not it achieves its destiny.

Chicken parm is both friendly and versatile, and can be as extra or as minimal as you’d like. Want to go fully homemade, simmer some sauce all afternoon, and fry up chicken at night? Do it. Not sitting on a stockpile of big-batch marinara sauce frozen in deli containers? No worries, neither am I—just simmer some crushed tomatoes with garlic and Italian herbs for 30 minutes while everything cooks, or get yourself a jar of Rao’s or Michael’s of Brooklyn and go with the flow. The chicken can be cooked fresh or gently reheated in a skillet before baking with zero impact on the dish. It’s great with spaghetti or angel hair or heated on bread in the toaster oven, but more often lately I serve this with Palmini: shelf-stable canned palm hearts cut to strands roughly the shape of spaghetti alla chittara with minimal carbs, no gluten, decent fiber, and a taste that’s a little like an artichoke. They are also 60 calories for a whole can, so feel free to get all the way down.

RECIPE

The easiest chicken parm, lightly crusted in a panko-parm coating and pan-fried before topping with sauce and quickly baking under a blanket of mozzarella cheese.

Effortful time: 10 minutes

Total time: 25 minutes

Serves 2

YOU NEED

  • 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in half to make cutlets

  • 1 egg

  • 3/4 cup panko breadcrumbs

  • 1 tsp. salt

  • Cracked pepper, to taste

  • 1/4 cup grated parm or pecorino

  • 2 tbsp. neutral oil

  • 2 cups marinara sauce, dealer’s choice, homemade or store bought

  • 3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese or 4 slices fresh mozz (about 2 oz)

  • Side of your choice, for serving, plus more sauce if desired

MAKE IT

  1. Get prepped. In a medium saucepan over low heat, gently heat the sauce you’d like to use. Preheat the oven to 425°F.

  2. Create your coating station. In a shallow bowl, beat the egg. On a plate, use a fork to mix the panko, 1/4 cup of the grated cheese, salt, and pepper.

  3. Coat the chicken. Slice the chicken breasts butterfly-style so you have 4 cutlets. Dip each in egg, and then in the panko mixture to coat.

  4. Fry the chicken. Heat the 2 tbsp. of neutral oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook, lowering heat if they start to smoke, for 4 minutes per side or until the internal temp registers 165°. Transfer the chicken to a plate.

  5. Bake it and melt. Line a small baking sheet with foil. Transfer chicken over to this pan, then ladle a small amount of sauce onto each so that some of the crispy coating is still exposed. Top with the mozzarella cheese. Bake for 5-7 minutes until the cheese is just melted. You can then broil it for a minute for a crispier top, which is what I did.

  6. Serve it up. Put some sauce down first, then plate the chicken alongside your choice of starch or vegetable, along with more sauce and cheese.

bonus: an ultra minimalist sauce recipe from scratch

Heat a tsp. of olive oil in a small saucepan over medium heat and sauté 2 cloves of minced garlic for 30 seconds. Pour in a 14 oz can of crushed tomatoes and season with salt, pepper, 1/4 tsp. onion powder, and 1 tsp. Italian herbs. Simmer 30 minutes.

meatsA @ italian enoughtraditional, italian-american, simple, essentialComment