Gluten and Cheese...

Hey All,

Tonight was for Italian food, a rarity since we generally cook asian-esque food here. It was still great though, albeit more filling than expected ><. It came out really well, despite a few slight mishaps (we forgot we had the garlic bread in the oven... it came out a little on the dark side...). Enough for introductions though - on with the recipes!

Chicken Parmesan:
We were looking for a way to burn through the rest of the cheese and panko we had left over from the weekend and figured this was a good way to do so. Followed this recipe here (1). Although we ended up buying more bread crumbs, it still ended up pretty cheap in the end. ~$11 went into it for 7 servings. As only 3 of us were eating... it was quite a bit. Here's how it went:

• 7 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts (cheaper to cut the bones out of half breasts)
• 2 cups Flour
• 5 Large Eggs
• 3 1/2 cups Bread Crumbs (1 cup Panko + 2 1/2 cups Bread Crumbs in our case)
• 1 cup Parmesan Cheese
• Salt and Pepper

Mix flour, salt, and pepper in a bowl. In a separate bowl whisk the eggs together. In yet another bowl mix the cheese and bread crumbs. Take a chicken breast and dredge it in the flour. Next dip it in the egg, and then dredge through the cheese and crumbs mixture. Set aside. Do the same with the other breasts. Heat up vegetable oil in a pan on low heat so its not too hot. Place up to 3 breasts on the pan after the oil is hot. Keep there for 8 minutes and then flip. Wait another 8 minutes and then remove to a plate with paper towels on it to pat the breasts dry. Should be golden brown and cooked through (check!). Serve with Pasta Sauce.

Spaghetti:
For those of you who haven't made Spaghetti before, here's how we cooked the noodles:

• Box of Spaghetti
• Water
• Salt

Bring enough water to boil in a large pot to completely contain all the noodles which are going to be made. Add some salt (this helps prevent the noodles from sticking to each other). Add the noodles let sit for 10-15 minutes (depending on whether you like it undercooked, just right, or over - today ours was undercooked but done so intentially). Don't forget to stir (like we did ><) else it will clump together and some noodles on the edge won't cook. Bring off heat and pour off water. Cool with warm water and drain with a collander (bowl with holes in the bottom) if you can. If you don't have one, then hold the cap on the pot on enough such that water comes out, but not the noodles. This portion is as expensive as the noodles: about $3 for enough for 6 for us.

Pasta Sauce:
Pasta sauce is always fun. Mostly you start with a tomato sauce you buy at the supermarket, and then you make it better by adding your own ingredients. Almost anything will do (depending on how much there is and you want to put in), but here's our version:

• 1 medium jar or 1/2 large jar tomato sauce.
• 6 cloves Garlic
• 1 Onion
• 1 Shallot
• 1 box Mushrooms
• 2 cups Red Wine
• Garlic Salt

Bring sauce to boil in a pot on low heat. Mix in chopped mushrooms and minced garlic, onion, and shallot. Bring back to boil, add wine and let simmer. Garlic salt to taste. Serve warm. (Note: If I were to do this again, I would fry the garlic and shallot with olive oil in the bottom of the pot and then add the sauce everything else. The fried garlic would give a sweeter taste I feel.) End cost: ~$4.

Garlic Bread:
We always eat garlic at our place (can't recall the last meal with out it here) and this hits near the top of our one time garlic usage. What does this mean? Delicious is what. Would've been better slightly less burnt, but for $4 for a whole loaf of garlic bread I'd try it again. Anyhow this was the way it went down:

• 1 loaf French Bread
• 1 stick Butter
• 18 cloves Garlic
• Olive Oil

Preheat oven to high broil. Mince garlic and mix with butter. Drizzle a bit of olive oil over the loaf. Spread over bread cut in half. Place on a baking sheet covered with tin foil and place in oven. Broil for (less than!) 15 minutes, or when the top starts to turn golden brown.

All in all everything goes together well. Mix and match to find your own favorite combinations (I personally found a sandwich made of chicken parmesan and pasta sauce flanked by garlic bread pretty fantastic). Probably easiestly/most normally served with the chicken over a bed of spaghetti with sauce on top! In the end, way too much food for 3 people (maybe enough for 7?) for around $22. I hope you guys enjoy!

Cheers,
---Chris

Cites:
(1) http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Chicken-Parmesan-Heros-107587