Chicken Parmesan

Ok, by now you should know I like to cook and love trying new recipes out of my cookbooks. Well, last night I decided it was time to crack open The Pioneer Woman Cooks, FOOD FROM MY FRONTIER, by Ree Drummond. I love her cookbooks, I have both of them...and such fun recipes, with pictures and everything!! I definitely recommend this one! We've experimented with several of her dishes and have always been pleased. So, one of Matt's favorites is Chicken Parmesan and I decided to give it a try.
 

Chicken Parmesan

I usually try to take pictures of every step...but after I was done I realized I failed doing so on this dish. My apologies, I got caught up in cooking and then Matt came home and got caught up chatting and cooking and then I was finished with the sauce and no documentation. I will just share my pictures and then give you the directions at the bottom.

Chicken prepped for frying pan.

Chicken in frying pan.

Chicken filliped, but still in frying pan.

This is where the photos I didn't take should go... =(

Yummy sauce!

Chicken, covered in cheese, in Yummy sauce!

Yummy, and promptly went in our tummies

So, here is how you can make this too:

CHICKEN PARMESAN
by: Ree Drummond

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. peper
• 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (pounded to uniform thinness)
• 2 Tbs.  butter
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves
• 3/4 cup wine (red or white)
• 3 - 14.5 oz. cans crushed tomatoes
• 2 Tbs. sugar
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (plus more for sprinkling)
• 1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 lb. thin linguine or other pasta, cooked al dente

Mix the flour and salt and pepper on a large plate. Season the flattened chicken breasts on both sides with salt and pepper, then dredge them in the flour mixture. Set them aside. In a large skillet, over medium high heat, melt the butter in the olive oil until sizzling. Fry the chicken breasts until nice and golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes on each side. Remove the chicken from the skillet and keep warm (I put ours in a pyrex pan covered in foil  in the oven @ 200 degrees).

Without cleaning the skillet, add the onion and garlic and saute for 2 minutes, or until the onion starts to brown. Pour in the  wine and scrape the bottom of the pan, getting all the flavorful bits off the bottom. Allow the wine to cook down until reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Pour in the crushed tomatoes and stir to combine. Add the sugar, then add salt and pepper to taste. Stir, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 30 minutes so the flavors can meld. (The smell is AMAZING!) Add the chopped parsley and 1/2 cup of the grated Parmesan, then stir to combine.

Carefully lay the chicken breasts on top of the sauce and completely cover them with the remaining 1 cup of grated Parmesan (I used the Philadelphia cream cheese "Italian Cheeses" shredded cheese for this...top notch taste). Cover the skillet and simmer until the cheese is melted and the chicken is heated through, about 5 minutes. Place the cooked pasta in pasta bowls or on plates, then cover with sauce. Lay a chicken breast on top of each serving and sprinkle with more parsley.

Serve immediately. Enjoy!

Hope you find this recipe as tasty as we did! And just a side note, Matt and I don't like wine, so I was nervous about the sauce (I bought the smallest, cheapest bottle I could find) and while you could taste the flavors, we really enjoyed it...so don't let that steer you away!