Time for our third Barefoot Bloggers' recipe, the second one for June. The Barefoot Bloggers (read all about us here) are the brilliant idea of Tara at Smells Like Home and are a group about 80 strong, who make and blog about the Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten's recipes on the second and fourth Thursday of each month. We take turns choosing the recipes and today's recipe, Parmesan Chicken, was chosen by Megan of My Baking Adventures. I have to say I was a bit lukewarm when I saw the title of this recipe--I think I had bad flashbacks of Chicken Parmesan, served as a school lunch and consisting of a dry, over-breaded chicken breast, swimming in canned tomato sauce and tough mozzarella cheese. When will I learn to grant Ina the trust she so deserves??!! I am still waiting to see if the woman actually has a bad recipe! Ina's version of Chicken Parmesan, (you can find the recipe here or on page 82 in Barefoot Contessa, Family Style--the Lemon Vinaigrette is on page 40 of the book) has chicken breasts, pounded thin and lightly-breaded with seasoned crumbs and parmesan cheese, topped with salad greens. a light, lively lemon vinaigrette and some more parmesan to garnish. A lovely and much lighter take on the dish, inspired by a veal dish in a favorite restaurant of Ina's in Milan. 
The last two recipes I had ready way ahead of posting time--I do most of my testing and cooking on weekends. For this recipe, I got caught being really busy on the weekend and didn't have a chance to make this until Monday night after work. This normally would drive me crazy because I am usually so tired when I get home from work but this recipe went together so quickly and easily, I didn't have an issue. What made it even easier were the chicken breasts that I bought which were marked as "thin" and were about the 1/4" specified--so no pounding and thus time saved.
The chicken breasts were delicious and I really liked the salad and the lemon vinaigrette. I was not all that hungry Monday night so I just ate it as is--no sides served with it. I would make it again for myself or for a small dinner party. I ate it the next day for lunch with the chicken breast sliced on top of the greens (should have taken a picture of it that way!) and it made a great salad that would be nice to serve as an elegant lunch dish to friends.
Another great recipe for the Barefoot Bloggers--can't wait to see everyones' posts (the list of B.B.s can be found here--so you can check them all out!), and I can't wait to see next month's chosen recipes.
I love her show, when I go home to Hawaii, I watch all the re-runs :) This looks wonderful.
ReplyDeleteI agree this would be a great dish to serve to guests. So easy to put together, you can spend time with your friends. I love your photos, it makes me want to eat it again.
ReplyDeleteI had the same lukewarm reception to the idea that you did -- the idea of a chicken breast swimming in tomato sauce and cheese was neither appealing nor terribly novel, but when I read the recipe and noted hers was a lighter and lively version, I took heart. After I finally made it (and like you, no other sides, although I did convert mine to a sandwich), I was surprised just how quickly it came together. It really was much better than any chicken tender from a bag. I'll make it again.
ReplyDeleteWhat lovely photos. I love your thick slices of parmesan shavings on top of the greens. Great job.
ReplyDeleteI am glad that you liked this version of Chicken Parmesan. It looks delicious!
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by! Your Parm Chicken looks great!
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