Chicken Parmesan

Bo wanted some Chicken Parmesan for dinner tonight and had me look up a recipe. This is what I found. If it makes it to the blog, it means both Bo and I liked it. J I did make some alterations, which I noted throughout the recipe.

Hope y’all enjoy it as much as we did.

Ingredients

¼ C extra-virgin olive oil, plus 3 Tblsp

1 medium onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced (2 ½ tsp)

2 bay leaves

½ C kalamata olived, pitted (I did without this and it still was great)

½ bunch fresh basil leaves

2 (28-oz) cans whole peeled tomatoes, drained and hand crushed (I just used diced tomatoes)

Pinch sugar

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 skinless, boneless, chicken breasts (I did 2 chicken breasts and just sliced them in half length wise)

½ C all-purpose flour

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 Tbsp. water

1 C dried bread crumbs (I toasted 4 pieces of bread in the toaster and then set them in the oven for a little while it warmed up, just make sure to check it, I almost forgot)

1 (8-oz) ball fresh buffalo mozzarella, water drained (I just used shredded mozzarella I had in the freezer and measured the amount I wanted)

Freshly grated Parmesan (Again, just used parmesan from the shaker)

1 pound spaghetti pasta, cooked al dente

Directions

Coat a sauté pan with olive oil and place over medium heat. When oil gets hazy, add onions, garlic, and bay leaves; cook and stir for 5 mins. Until fragrant and soft. Add olives and some hand-torn basil. Carefully add tomatoes, cook and stir until liquid is cooked down and the sauce is thick, about 15 minutes; season with sugar, salt and pepper. Lower the heat, cover and keep warm.

Preheat oven to 450 degree F.

Get the ingredients together for the chicken in an assembly line. I sliced the two chicken breasts in half, but you can place them side by side on a cutting board and lay a piece of plastic wrap over them and pound them with a flat meat mallet until they’re ½ inch thick. Put the flour in a shallow platter and season with a fair amount of salt and pepper; mix with a fork to distribute evenly. In a wide bowl, combine eggs and water and beat until frothy. Put breadcrumbs on a plate, season with salt and pepper.

Heat 3 Tbsp. of olive oil over medium-high flame in a large ovenproof skillet. Lightly dredge both sides of the chicken cutlets in the seasoned flour, dip them in the egg to coat completely letting excess drip off, and then dredge in breadcrumbs. When oil is hot, add cutlets and fry for 4 minutes on each side until golden and crusty, turning once.

I then transferred them to a cookie sheet instead of putting the skillet in the oven.

Ladle the tomato-olive sauce over the chicken and sprinkle with mozzarella, Parmesan, and basil. Bake Chicken Parmesan for 15 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly. Serve hot with spaghetti.  We also added some Prego pasta sauce to ours to make it a little more moist.

Thanks for the recipe! You can find the original recipe HERE.

Black Drum or Seared Mahi Mahi w/ Veggie Cream Sauce

Black Drum or Seared Mahi Mahi w/ Veggie Cream Sauce

So I got the original recipe from a chef at my work. He used to be 200+ pounds heavier than he is now and he went to the doctor and they told him if he didn't change his lifestyle he would only have a certain amount of time left to live. He had always wanted to be a chef but his dad was against the idea. Now being placed in one of those "What did I do with my life," kind of moments, he quit his job and went back to school to be a chef. He is now working alongside one of the big wig chefs here in New Orleans (I don't know the guy so the name didn't stick with me...) and has lost about 200 pounds!

Anyways, that's the background of this recipe. I tweaked it a little bit because I didn't have everything, but it was still amazing! I also saw a similar recipe on the back of my Goya Coconut Milk can and added some things from there into my sauce. I put up my concoction and the original recipe below. Feel free to try either!

"Tastes like something you'd pay a lot of money for." - my hubby Bo

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
2 1/2 tsp. Minced Garlic
1/2 Onion (I used a red onion, but you can use anything)
3/4 Green Pepper
1 1/2 C Coconut Milk
1/3 C Milk
2 Bay Leaves
Salt
Pepper
Lemon Pepper
1 tsp. Chicken Bouillon
1 Diced Tomato
Seared Mahi Mahi or Black Drum  (I did Black Drum, that's all they had at the store and I heard it was cheaper)

Turn the oven on to 300 degrees fahrenheit and put fish in tin foil with 1 Tbsp. oil sprinkled over, salt, pepper, and lemon pepper. Roll up fish in foil and set in the oven till cooked. (He said it'll only take 15 minutes, but it took me about 35 minutes. I did 15 minutes, then two increments of 10 after and just kept on checking on it.) It will be white and will pull apart easily.

In the skillet, put 1 Tbsp. of oil, garlic, chopped onions, and peppers on Medium heat and soften, do not brown. Add salt and pepper.

Once cooked through, put coconut milk and milk in skillet with veggies. Stir continuously. Add 2 bay leaves, lemon pepper, salt, 1 tsp. powdered chicken bouillon, and diced tomato. After about 5 minutes on Medium, let simmer for 10-15 minutes.

Serve with veggie cream sauce on top of fish.

Enjoy! :)

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Original Recipe:

Dende Oil
Clove of garlic
1 Full Onion
1 Yellow Pepper
1 Green Pepper
1 C Coconut Milk
1 C Heavy Cream
Seared Mahi Mahi or Black Drum
Salt
Pepper

In a skillet on medium heat, put oil, garlic, and thin slices of onions and peppers. Soften, but do not brown. Salt and Pepper it.

Once cooked through, put coconut milk and heavy cream in skillet with pepper concoction. Stir continuously.

Throw fish in oven at 275-300 degrees Fahrenheit with dende oil, salt and pepper on it in tin foil form.

Sauce will cook down to a cream and fish will be done. About 15 minutes.

Put fish on a plate serve with veggies and drizzle on cream.