Chicken Parmesan over Pasta

Chicken Parmesan is a staple dinner whenever guys are involved in the eating. This recipe is easy and quick. The Rao's tomato sauce used can be found all over NYC and in Harris Teeter, Safeway and a few other grocery stores down south. I used to make my own sauce, but this sauce is amazing and doesn't have any weird additives. Most recipes call for pounding chicken breasts, but I find that by using thinner cut chicken, this step can be left out. Using quick boiling pasta also helps reduce cook time. Serves 4

Ingredients

1 jar Rao's basil tomato sauce

1 box, quick boil pasta (Al Dente brand is my favorite)

1/2 pound fajita cut chicken breasts (or 8 chicken cutlets) 

1 cup bread crumbs

1 cup parmesan cheese + 1/4 cup for topping

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 400F 

In a large pan, heat 2 tbsp oil on medium heat

Meanwhile, mix together breadcrumbs and cheese

Clean off chicken, but don't pat dry

Put chicken into the mixture and make sure both sides are covered

Put one layer of chicken in the pan

Allow to brown on each side (about 2 minutes per side)

Add oil if needed between cutlets

Pour half of the tomato sauce into a large glass baking dish

Place chicken on tomato sauce

When all chicken has been cooked, cover with more sauce and sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup of cheese

Bake for 10 minutes

*Don't worry tooooo much about checking to make sure the chicken is fully cooked because you will be placing the whole dish in the oven to further cook

*When taking chicken out and flipping over, use kitchen tongs so that you don't get oil splatter on your hands

Meanwhile boil the pasta and prepare any sides

When pasta and chicken has cooked, combine and enjoy!

Copyright © 2012 Rachel Pollard