As a product developer, I attempt to incorporate as many vegetables and fruits into the products and recipes I create in order to give the consumer their essential ‘five-a-Day’. Whether these essential fruits and veggies are cooked, blended together and hidden in the dish, or whether they feature prominently, the idea is to get as many people back on the healthier-eating bandwagon as possible and away from high fat, high sodium and high carbohydrate fast food alternatives. This recipe for chicken Parmigiana with grilled vegetables is a great alternative.
One of my favourite dishes is Melanzane Parmigiana – a fried aubergine dish layered with tomato sauce and Parmesan cheese. I’ve taken this concept and combined it with another favourite, chicken Parmigiana (breaded chicken layered with tomato sauce, parmesan and mozzarella cheeses) and loaded it with all the gorgeous vegetables that are available at the moment. Here’s how it goes.
Ingredients
(Serves 6)
- 4 skinless chicken breasts, butterflied and pounded flat
- 2 egg whites, beaten
- 1/2 cup plain flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp coarse black pepper
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, finely grated
For the tomato sauce:
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 medium onions, red or white, chopped
- 5 cloves garlic, crushed
- 2 tins whole peeled tomatoes
- 1 tsp sugar
- salt and pepper to season
- handful of fresh mixed herbs, torn: basil, marjoram, flat-leaf parsley
- 2 long, unblemished aubergine, sliced 1 cm thick
- 2 peppers, colour of your choice ( I avoid the green ones due to the overpowering flavour)
- 20 asparagus spears, base ends snapped off
- 6 shallots, unpeeled or 2 onions, skin on, cut in half
- Olive oil for grilling
For layering:
- Reduced-fat feta cheese, crumbled
- Torn basil leaves (I chopped up the stems and put them in the tomato sauce)
- Parmesan cheese, finely grated
Cooking method
To make the tomato sauce, heat a saucepan over a medium heat. Add the olive oil and the onions and saute gently until the onions have completely softened. Toss in the garlic and saute together for a minute or so. Tip in the herbs and whole peeled tomatoes and turn down to a low heat. Let this cook very slowly for 40 minutes until the tomatoes have broken up, and the sauce has reduced to a nice thick consistency. Season with the salt, pepper and sugar, and set aside for later.
While the sauce is cooking, prepare your vegetables: Heat your oven to 220degrees Celsius. Place the shallots/onions and peppers in a roasting tray, drizzle with a little olive oil and leave to roast for 30-40 minutes, or until the skin of the peppers starts going black. Turn the veggies half way through cooking. When done, remove from the oven and let these veggies cool down.
Heat a griddle pan, or a non-stick pan, and grill your slices of aubergine. Use a little oil in between batches, but be careful not to be overzealous – aubergine is a very porous vegetable and will quickly soak up any oil you pour over it. Once the aubergine slices have been grilled, toss in the asparagus spears and grill just until you see their colour brighten. Remove them straight away after this.
Get back to your peppers and onions – pull the seeds, stem and membrane out the peppers and tear them between your fingers into strips. Pull the skins off the onions/shallots, and set these aside.
To coat the chicken, combine the salt, pepper, parmesan and flour well, pour out onto a dinner plate. When crumbing these breasts, I use egg white, instead of whole eggs, as this method cuts out the high fats that come from the yolk. Pour the beaten egg whites onto a dinner plate, too. First dip the pounded chicken fillets into the egg whites, then into the flour mixture. Lightly coat the chicken, and press the coating into the chicken with your hands. We don’t want heavily coated chicken so only coat the chicken once. You’ll notice that there are no breadcrumbs in the coating, this adds an unnecessary carbohydrate element to the dish. Once the chicken is coated, heat a non-stick pan to a medium-high heat with a little olive oil, and grill quickly on each side to seal the coating. Remove and set aside.
Layering your Parmigiana is the fun part – it doesn’t matter what ingredients you start with, be sure to use all the ingredients evenly and save a layer of aubergine and asparagus for the top. Layer the vegetables neatly in a large oven dish; if the chicken breasts create holes next to them, fill those up with more veggies or tomato sauce. Sprinkle your herbs and feta cheese between the layers as well. Finish the dish off with grated parmesan and some extra feta if you like. Bake in the oven at 200degrees Celsius for 20 minutes. Once removed from the oven, let the chicken Parmigiana stand for a few minutes. It will be extraordinarily hot, and if allowed to settle, will slice better upon serving.
This dish makes for fantastic leftovers, as the flavours just get better and better. You could also omit the chicken for a really tasty and good-looking vegetarian option. It also freezes well. Buon appetito!
Check out the original post on the Chef Privé blog here.
