Feeling (up?), like an Italian – Chicken Parmigiana

It’s amazing really, I am totally and utterly convinced that I could have been Italian… and even better – that I could look as fabulous as Italian actress, Sophia Loren, and/or be related to her! She has this amazing sex appeal (and no, I am not that way inclined) for a 77year old woman. WTF???? She is the female version of Sean Connery!

She inspires me to work on my heavy eye make-up (lots and lots of dark eyeliner), get big hair, start wearing large spectacles and inevitably show a LOT more cleavage – cos if she can do it at 77, I sure as sh*t can do it at 30+plus!

I might need to have the fat drained out of my cheeks and double chin and placed into the essential area’s of my Décolletage!! (and my this… we all know what i really mean, don’t we?? *nudge nudge wink wink*)

Now that I have gotten my little Italian rant and rave out of the way… I need to tell you that I cook (and bake) in a strange way… essentially, I don’t say *gee, what shall I make tonight* (while scratching noggin) – but rather, I either find a recipe in one of my food magazines and go *wow – I need to try that* OR I look into my fridge and go *hmm, I have half a bottle of Passata, what can I make with this*, find a recipe, buy the additional ingredients… and BAM… a new recipe has been attempted!

So, as you can gather… I have half a bottle of Passata in my fridge… so I put the word in the search engine of the *BBC Good Food* website and guess what…. they had a whole range of recipes using Passata as an ingredient… so by process of elimination – I got rid of the pizza, lasagna, pasta options, and finally settled on the Chicken Parmigiana Recipe:

Chicken Parmigiana:

2 large skinless chicken breasts (halved through the middle)

2 eggs, beaten

75g breadcrumbs

75 parmesan, grated

1 Tablespoon olive oil

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1/2 jar (690ml) jar passata (couldn’t have worked out better if i tried!!)

1 teaspoon castor sugar

1 teaspoon oregano

75g Mozzarella

beat the sh*t out of the chicken breasts (ok – really, it says, place the chicken breasts betwen cling film sheets and bash out with a rolling pin to the thickenss of 1pound coin)… but I like the idea of going to town on these babies 🙂
Dip in the egg, then breadcrumbs (mixed with half with parmesan)

Set aside on a plate in the fridge

Heat oil and cook garlic for 1min
Add passata, sugar and oregano and simmer for 5-10min

heat Grill to high and cook chicken for 5min on each side
Pour Sauce into a shallow ovenproof dish and top with chicken and mozzarella (and the remaining amount of parmesan) and grill for 3-4min until cheese has melted and the sauce is bubbling.