Delicious Chicken Parmesan

Chicken Parmesan is a pretty trusty dish. You can go into a suspicious "italian" restaurant and usually be okay ordering Chicken Parmesan. I often forget how easy and how much tastier this recipe can be when it is made at home. I don't make it very often, since it is not all that healthy and tends to spatter up my stove pretty bad, but wow, this is delicious! I know you can make this in the oven, but we eat a lot of breaded & baked chicken, so if we're going to do chicken parm, we usually do this the old fashioned pan fried way. I think this might be our Valentine's Day dinner in 2010, it was that good!

Chicken Parmesan (my recipe, inspired by a million Italian-American Restaurants)

Two boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 6 oz each) pounded to about 1/2 inch thick

1/4 cup flour

1 egg

1/2 cup bread crumbs

1/4 cup grated parmigiano reggiano cheese

3 Tbs Canola Oil (I used Olive Oil this time, but Canola is better in this application)

1 cup spaghetti sauce (jarred or homemade, I used Ragu)

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1/2 tsp each dry basil, oregano and italian seasoning

1/2 cup grated mozzerella cheese

Mix bread crumbs and parmigiano cheese in a shallow dish. Place flour and scrambled egg in their own shallow dishes. Dredge both sides of chicken in flour, shaking very well to remove excess. Dip both sides in egg, then dredge in bread crumb mixture. Heat oil in frying pan until shimmery hot, then add chicken. Pan fry about 3-5 minutes per side until chicken is cooked through and crust is deep golden brown. Remove to paper towels and pat until most oil is removed. Pour oil out of pan and blot with a paper towel to remove most oil while leaving the browned bits in the pan. Add spaghetti sauce and scrape with a wooden spoon to pull up the browned bits into the sauce. Add pepper flakes and herbs and stir well to incorporate. Cook until just bubbly, then add the chicken back in, turning once to coat in sauce. Top each breast with about a 1/4 cup mozzerella cheese, reduce heat to low and cover, simmering until the cheese has just melted. Serve with hot pasta, if desired.