I love making meals from the contents of the freezer because it gets dinner on the table fast, fast, fast! Tonight we had Chicken Parmesan With Roasted Tomato Sauce, buttered noodles with parsley, steamed broccoli, and Feta Squares (this recipe is in the November 2008 issue of Southern Living; find it at myrecipes.com) topped with additional tomato sauce. The best thing about this menu is that the oven-fried chicken (I made a large batch the last time I found chicken cutlets on sale) and Roasted Tomato Sauce were in the freezer (I put them in the fridge last night) because I made them several weeks ago. So tonight, I placed the chicken on a baking pan and reheated it at 400° for about 15 minutes; this also helped crisp the breading. The sauce went into a pan to reheat. At the same time, I cooked the ziti and steamed the broccoli in the microwave.
Chicken Parmesan
2 chicken cutlets (If you haven't tried these timesavers, you need to.)
Salt and pepper
Japanese breadcrumbs (These are sold as panko on the International Food aisle of most grocery stores; they are much crispier than regular breadcrumbs.)
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. dried fennel seeds
1/4 tsp. ground red pepper
2 eggs
Cooking spray
Roasted Vegetable Sauce (You can substitute your favorite jar of pasta sauce.)
Grated Parmesan cheese (I combined Parmesan with fontina cheese because I had some. You could also use mozzarella.)
Buttered Pasta
1. Sprinkle cutlets with salt and pepper.
2. Combine panko and next 4 ingredients in a shallow bowl or plate. Light beat eggs in another bowl or plate. Dredge chicken in panko mixture; then dip in egg. Dredge chicken in panko mixture again.
3. Place chicken on a baking sheet, and cook with cooking spray.
4. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until done.
5. While chicken is still on baking sheet, top with tomato sauce and sprinkle with cheese. Bake 5 more minutes or until cheese is melted. Serve with pasta.
Buttered Pasta
6 oz. ziti
2 Tbsp. butter
1 Tbsp. dried parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
Grated Parmesan cheese
1. Cook and drain ziti. Toss hot pasta with butter; sprinkle with parsley, salt, and pepper. Top with Parmesan cheese, if desired.
4 comments:
I keep forgetting to ask you about the Feta Squares. Good?
ok, I would have used last night's very complex menu as a reason not to cook for a week. You get "cooler" every day. ~A
The Feta Squares were a little disappointing. The key seems to be to serve them hot and the tomato sauce helped too. The texture is a little spongy for me. I would be interested to get your take.
I promise the dumplings are not hard; they're just time-consuming. I'll make them for you sometime. Better yet, you can help me. Did J like the blue cheese pasta? I hope so.
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