Crisp and Crunchy Chicken Parmesan
This Chicken Parmesean leaves behind the soggy layered mess of yore and instead takes a cue from crispy chicken tenders loaded with fresh cheese and crunchy panko breading.
Servings: 3 People
Ingredients
- 1 lbs Chicken Tenders Sliced horizontal
- 3 cloves Garlic
- 3/4 Cup Fontina Cheese
- 3/4 Cup Mozarella or Oaxcan Cheese
- 1 Cup Panko
- 1/3 Cup Parmesan cheese
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 Cup Milk
- 1 tsp Kosher Salt divided
- 1/4 tsp Chili Flakes
- 1/4 tsp Dried Oregano
- 1/2 tsp Black Pepper
- 1 Tbsp Flour
- 1 Lemon Zest
- 1 pinch white sugar
- 1 Cup Prepared Italian Tomato Sauce We recommend our Maridomo Sauce
Instructions
- Bring the chicken tenders out of the fridge and assess their thin-ness. You want them to be all roughly the same size and height with maximum surface area for breading/cheese and sauce application. Depending on your butcher or market, you may be able to give them a few whacks with a meat mallet or alternatively, slice them in half as you would a layer cake.
- Arrange tenders on a plate. Combine half your amount of salt with the pinch of sugar and apply to both sides of tenders. You are essentially quickly dry brining these puppies to encourage them to A) taste delicious from the inside out and B) remain juicy after a shallow fry and trip under the very toasty broiler. Allow to brine for a minimum of 45 minutes to as long as an hour or so. Since we keep our home on the chilly side, I leave them out and covered on the counter so I don't have to worry about bringing them back up to room temperature again. If that makes you squeamish, go ahead and pop them in the fridge.
- After brine-ing, combine 3 tablespoons of your parmesan with the panko, remaining salt, lemon zest, chili flakes, oregano, black pepper and flour in a shallow dish which will easily accommodate a couple of tenders at a time. Whisk eggs and milk and grated garlic together in a separate shallow dish.
- Heat olive oil in a frying pan over medium low heat. You don't want this to get too hot which will result in scary hot oil potentially spitting at you, and can burn the tenders opposed to frying them to a lovely golden brown. Pat 2-3 tenders dry and dip them first into the egg/milk mixture, then into the panko mixture, flipping to ensure both sides are equally covered in crumb mixture. Next, carefully transfer to hot pan. I'd stick with frying 2-3 tenders at a time so as not to overcrowd the pan.
- Fry first batch of tenders for 3-4 minutes and flip. Once second side is sufficiently golden brown, remove from pan to rest. We keep ours on a little metal rack to keep 'em crispy. Repeat dredging and frying process with remaining tenders.
- Preheat Broiler. Arrange tenders on broiler-safe pan and top with desired amount of Oaxacan (or whatever melty cheese you'd like), fontina, and remaining parmesan. Broil for 4 minutes or until cheese is melted and slightly browned.
- Serve topped with warmed tomato sauce (we recommend something simple like our mari-domo) and copious amounts of shredded fresh basil. Enjoy with angel hair pasta and salad, or just salad if you're less indulgent than we generally are.