EDIT - another 9 years has passed since i last cooked this meal. This is for my bride's birthday dinner. I've also moved the original story to follow the recipe.
Here's what I used and how I prepared it:
Marinara Sauce:
1 29 ounce can of tomato sauce
1 29 ounce can of crushed tomatoes
1/2 cup of water
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
2 teaspoons Italian spices
1 teaspoon crushed mint
1 teaspoon cilantro
Chicken:
Buttermilk
1 box of panko crumbs
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
Pam spray
1 pound of your favorite pasta. We use angel hair. Prepare according to package.
Preparation:
Put the ingredients for marinara sauce into medium sauce pan, bring to boil on high heat for about 5 minutes, covered. Then reduce heat to low for another 15 minutes, remaining covered. Set aside.
For the chicken at least a couple of hours to the day before, cut and place into a bowl. Fill the bowl with enough milk to fully cover the meat. Refrigerate until ready to prepare.
For the breading, place all dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Mix thoroughly.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Take a 11x16" cookie sheet and coat with cooking oil. Pull out the chicken, shake off excess milk, press down into crumbs. Flip and press, then shake off crumbs. Repeat until all the chicken is placed on the sheet. (You will have the chicken packed close without overlapping.) Sprinkle remaining crumbs over chicken.
Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, pour marinara sauce over the chicken, bake for another 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked.
Plating:
Place a bed of pasta on the plate, drizzle marinara sauce, place chicken pieces, sprinkle with your favorite Italian cheese. Mozzarella and Parmesan are the two I use.
Hey, buon appétito!
(The original story follows.)
Tonight, I'm writing about Chicken Parmesan. It's something I've cooked before. Yet two observations: 1) it's been 7 years since last I cooked this, Mother's Day lunch at church, and 2) I fried the chicken strips the first time. My sous chefs were the men seven years ago, and my wife this evening.
The reason this is being blogged is that I've recently realized something about myself. Yesterday, my brother had us watching his boys. And to help out he brought over Little Cesar's Pizza. I like pizza. I love marinara based dinners. So this is my observation, that when I eat tomatoes that are too ripe, or if I eat tomato based foods after 8, then I'm up all night in gastric discomfort. And though the pizza was lunch and I wasn't up all night, (perhaps it was the spices of LCP,) I realized that there will be a day that I will need to stop eating marinara altogether.
This has inspired me to experiment. I use mint in my cooking because of the soothing effects I've seen in the past, especially with tomatoes. I also use cilantro as a balance to the mint.
So far, three hours have passed since I had my late dinner. By this time, I'm usually feeling quite a bit of discomfort, but instead I'm enjoying an evening watching TV with Carol as the kids are in bed. It seems my experiment is a success. The amount of mint and cilantro I used for tonight's sauce is equal to the amount I usually use when I make 2 gallons of sauce
