Chicken Parmigiana, inspired by the Pioneer Woman

By Foodiewife

We were having dinner guests, who don't eat red meat. I am a fan of The Pioneer Woman, and I spotted Ree's tutorial on how to make this dish. I made her recipe, with only a couple of adaptations-- for one, I make the marinara sauce ahead of time (as much as one day). I decided to melt some fresh mozzarella cheese, which turned out to be perfect. This is inexpensive to make, and this impressed my guests. Great flavor! To see how I made this, visit my blog at: http://foodiewife-kitchen.blogspot.com/2010/01/pioneer-womans-chicken-parmigiana.html

Ingredients

• 4 whole (up To 6) Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts, Trimmed And Pounded Flat
• 1/2 cups All-purpose Flour
• Salt And Pepper, to taste
• 1/2 cups Olive Oil
• 2 Tablespoons Butter
• 1 whole Medium Onion, Chopped
• 4 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 3/4 cups Wine (preferably red, but white is Fine)
• 3 cans (14.5 Oz.) Crushed Tomatoes
• 2 Tablespoons Sugar
• 1/4 cubes Chopped Fresh Parsley
• 1 cup Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese
• Optional: Six slices of fresh mozarella cheese
• 1 pound Thin Linguine

Preparation

Step 1

Mix flour, salt, and pepper together on a large plate.

Dredge flattened chicken breasts in flour mixture. Set aside.

At this time, you can start a pot of water for your pasta. Cook linguine until al dente, according to package directions.

Heat olive oil and butter together in a large skillet over medium heat. When butter is melted and oil/butter mixture is hot, fry chicken breasts until nice and golden brown on each side, about 2 to 3 minutes per side.

Remove chicken breasts from the skillet and keep warm.

For the Sauce*:

Without cleaning skillet, add onions and garlic and gently stir for 2 minutes.

Pour in wine and scrape the bottom of the pan, getting all the flavorful bits off the bottom. Allow wine to cook down until reduced by half, about 2 minutes.

Pour in crushed tomatoes and stir to combine. Add sugar and more salt and pepper to taste. Allow to cook for 30 minutes. Toward the end of cooking time, add chopped parsley and give sauce a final stir.

*NOTE: I actually make my marinara sauce ahead of time, even a day.

Carefully lay chicken breasts on top of the sauce and completely cover them in grated Parmesan**.

**NOTE: I added fresh slices of mozzarella cheese, which we loved.

Place lid on skillet and reduce heat to low. Allow to simmer until cheese is melted and chicken is thoroughly heated. Add more cheese to taste.

Place cooked noodles on a plate and cover with sauce.

Place chicken breast on top and sprinkle with more parsley. Serve immediately.