Un-breaded Chicken Parmesan

Can you tell I bought a club pack of chicken last week? Every meal is chicken, chicken and more chicken.

Today I am in the mood for Italian. I love Chicken Parmesan but don't need the breaded, fried, fatty part of it in my diet. Thankfully, Giada saved the day!

I had to make some changes because I didn't have all the fresh herbs. I learned you can sub dried herbs for fresh on a 3:1 ratio. In other words, 1 tablespoon of fresh herb would equal 1 teaspoon of dried herb. But since my dried herbs aren't quite fresh, and dried herbs lose their potency with age, I did a 2:1 ratio (1/2 as much dried to fresh).

While this recipe only uses two chicken breasts, it could easily serve four people. Once the chicken is pounded out, the piece is quite large. I ate half a chicken breast and it was plenty... and the recipe ended up feeding me for two lunches and two dinners!

Recipe adapted from Giada De Laurentis on Everyday Italian.

2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp dried Italian seasoning (If using fresh, use 1 tbps of whatever fresh Italian herbs you'd like. Giada uses parsley, thyme and rosemary.)
pinch sea salt & fresh cracked pepper
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 1/2 cups A Little More Than Five Minute Tomato Sauce or any simple tomato sauce you have on hand.
2 tbsp shredded mozzarella cheese
4 tsp grated Parmesan cheese

1. Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees F.

2. Place chicken breasts between two pieces of waxed paper or in a large ziplock bag. Pound each chicken breast, using a mallet, to 1/4 inch thickness to create chicken cutlets. (If serving four, you may want to cut the chicken breasts in half before pounding.)

3. Add oil and herbs to a small bowl and stir together. Season with salt and pepper.

4. Heat an oven-proof skillet over high heat. Brush both sides of the flattened chicken with herb oil. Add the chicken to the hot pan and cook 2 minutes per side, just to brown. Remove skillet from the heat. If you wanted to prepare this meal for a dinner party, you could do the first four steps earlier in the day, then complete the rest shortly before serving your meal.

5. Spoon tomato sauce over top of and around chicken. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of mozzarella and 2 teaspoons of Parmesan over each piece of chicken.

6. Bake in hot oven until cheese is melted and chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes.

7. Serve chicken over cooked pasta of your choice, topped with more warm tomato sauce.