Summer may not officially over, but the rain has rolled in with cooler weather that looks like it’s here to stay. Pumpkins sit outside my grocery store and the blogosphere is peppered with ideas for using them this season. I can’t deny it anymore: gone is the season for rampant salads and cool wraps. It’s time to break out the oven mitts and give my range its first real work out in months!
This recipe for chicken parmesan doesn’t call for an oven, actually, but it is warm and comforting enough to make it equally fall-worthy. I made it a little lighter by removing the breading, parmesan cheese, and side spaghetti and adding in a whole lot of broccoli and some onions. Despite making it less heavy, it was still more than enough food and definitely satisfying enough for a full dinner! It also tasted pretty wonderful, though like most chicken parmesan recipes, this isn’t anything radical. It tastes, well, like a chicken parmesan recipe, so if you haven’t yet found your go-to recipe for this dish or if you just feel like switching it up a bit, go ahead and give this a shot. It’s light, refreshing, and delicious, but I wouldn’t go so far as to put it up against your Passed-Down-For-Generations-From-Grandmom-Italy-Herself version. We’ll just leave it at that.
One-Skillet Chicken Parmesan, adapted from Rachael Ray’s Classic 30 Minute Meals
Yield: 4-6 servings
The Ingredients
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
6 cloves garlic, divided & minced
several healthy pinches crushed red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons olive oil
56oz. (no salt added) crushed tomatoes
1 tablespoon dried basil (approximate)
½ tablespoon dried oregano (approximate)
2 heads broccoli, coarsely chopped
1 pound fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced
The Method
Place the cleaned and trimmed chicken in a bag or shallow dish with the lemon juice and place in the refrigerator to marinate, at least 10 minutes.
Place 4 cloves of garlic and the crushed red pepper flakes in a large skillet over medium heat until the garlic begins to sizzle. Add in the tomatoes and herbs and bring the mixture to a gentle boil. Reduce the heat and allow to simmer.
Arrange the chicken breasts in the center of the skillet and place the broccoli in the sauce around it. Cover and cook for approximately 4-5 minutes, then flip and cook the chicken all the way through, another 4-5 minutes. Stir the sauce occasionally to keep it from reducing too much or burning.
When the chicken is cooked through (165 degrees Fahrenheit is officially considered safe; although it supposedly leaks good juice out, I tend to just cut open a piece to test it), spoon at least half of the sauce over the chicken breasts and top as evenly as possible with the cheese slices. Cover again until the cheese has melted (alternatively, place under a broiler to brown the cheese).
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