Chicken Parmesan: How YOU doin'?

My son, a.k.a. The Beast, is an eating machine and one his favorite treats when we go out to eat is chicken parmesan. He's been hockin' me for months to try and make it at home and today was the day I finally came through.

I'd never made it before and was procrastinating since my track record with classic Italian dishes was pretty dismal. Below is an adaptation of different recipes I found online with a couple of variations of my own. I made a simple salad plus batch of whole wheat penne as a side thinking that the humongous chicken breasts wouldn't be enough. (I really am my mother's daughter.)

INGREDIENTS

• 1/4 cup whole wheat, unbleached flour
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon majoram
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Pinch of pepper
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 3/4 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)*
• 4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• Olive Oil Sprayer**
• 1/2 cup of tomato sauce***
• About a 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
• About 3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

PREP

1. Preheat oven to 450°.

2. On a large cutting board, place each breast between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap; flatten to about 1/2-inch thickness using a mallet or rolling pin and set aside.

3. Combine first 5 ingredients in a shallow dish; place beaten eggs in a bowl. Place panko in another shallow dish. Dredge one breast at a time in the flour mixture. Dip in egg; dredge in panko. Repeat with remaining chicken.

4. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken to pan; cook about 2 minutes until golden brown. Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil. Turn chicken over; cook another 2 minutes until browned.

5. Turn off heat then coat chicken lightly with olive oil using the sprayer; place pan in oven. Bake at 450° for about 5 minutes. Turn chicken over; top each breast with a couple of tablespoons of tomato sauce then top with Parmigiano-Reggiano, and some mozzarella. Bake another 5 minutes or until chicken is done.

Let chicken rest in the pan for a couple of minutes then serve it up!

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NOTES:

* I used Progresso Panko "Crispy Bread Crumbs-Plain". It had the least amount of sodium (50 mg) of all the supermarket options I checked out. Other brands were sporting close to 300 mg. My blood pressure is rising just thinking about it.

** One of the recipes I found called for off-the-shelf cooking spray. That stuff's got a couple of additives that I can live without so I prefer using an olive oil sprayer that you can refill - no funky stuff and I get to save a couple carbon credits. Amazon has a few options ranging from about $9 to $34 depending on how fancy you'd like to get and how much you want to spend.

*** I used some leftover sauce from my husband's lasagna that we had in a deep freeze. If you don't have your own, homemade sauce handy, the ready made tomato-basil stuff that comes in a jar is OK too.