Ciao's Baked Chicken Parmesan

A little departure from the norm today with Chicken Parm that I recently cooked up in the kitchen. Parmesan cheese is one of my favorite cheeses to use for dishes.  To come up with an easy breezy Ciao recipe, I actually studied a variety of recipes to create this one.  Here's how the process looked...

  

Here's what I used for ingredients:

6 boneless chicken breasts

3 tbs. olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup bread crumbs (panko or herb style)

1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

Fresh ground pepper and sea salt for flavor

Chili flakes (optional)

Box fettuccine

Bottled pasta sauce if you don't have time to make one

Grated mozzarella

6 Fresh basil leaves or sprinkles of dried basil (use less dried)

Prep:

Place the minced garlic with the olive oil in a plastic gallon bag to start the fusion process. 

Place each piece of chicken in another plastic bag and tenderize with mallet until thin, repeat for each piece

Mix the bread crumbs and cheese in a flat container

Dip each chicken piece into the olive oil and garlic mixture first, then dredge each piece of chicken in the crumbs mixture.  Continue below:

Homemade sauce is great but your favorite bottled sauce is delicious in a pinch!

Brown the chicken in some olive oil on both sides until for several minutes each side. Meanwhile heat the sauce and place into a baking dish.  Spoon some sauce on each piece of chicken. Top with mozzarella and a basil leave or dried basil leaves.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Place half the package of fettuccine into a frying pan on the stove, fill with water and cook until done. I'm now a believer in using a fry pan because the pasta gets cooked in half the time than a stock pot. Drain the pasta and return it to the fry pan with some butter, leftover garlic infused in the olive oil and stir until heated.  Add some more chili flakes if desired. Remove from the heat and stir in extra parm cheese.  

Now just pour some wine and enjoy your meal!