Ina Garten’s Parmesan Chicken

Anytime

Feb 11

Ina Garten has built a culinary empire built around her knack for delicious hospitality. Ina Garten not only creates food that is yummy. She also creates a sumptuous atmosphere that welcomes her guests by engaging all their senses whether it’s in her home, on the pages of her cookbooks or inside the chain of Barefoot Contessa shops she ran.

Ina makes it all look so natural and so easy. But in this episode, we learn about Ina’s childhood where food or emotional warmth was never a priority. We learn about how she created a new path forward when she found the love of her life. If you have read her books or watched her show you know how about her special relationship with Jeffrey. Listen and learn all about their origin story … and how and why she sent him away for a while so they could come together as equals.

Ingredients

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 cup all-purpose flour

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 extra-large eggs

1¼ cups seasoned dry bread crumbs

½ cup finely grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving

Unsalted butter

Good olive oil

Baby salad greens for 6, washed and spun dry

Lemon Vinaigrette (recipe follows)

STEP 1

Pound the chicken breasts until they are ¼-inch thick. You can use either a meat mallet or a rolling pin.

Notes: You can pound the meat between two sheets of wax paper, plastic wrap, or directly on a board.

STEP 2

Combine the flour, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper on a dinner plate. Beat the eggs with 1 tablespoon of water in a large shallow bowl. On a second dinner plate, combine the bread crumbs and the ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese. Coat the chicken breasts on both sides with the flour mixture, dusting off the excess, then dip both sides into the egg mixture and finally dredge both sides in the breadcrumb mixture, pressing lightly.

STEP 3

Heat 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large (12-inch) sauté pan over medium-low heat and cook 2 chicken breasts at a time for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, until just cooked through. Remove the cooked chicken to a plate (or keep warm in the oven; see below). Add more butter and oil and cook the rest of the chicken breasts.

STEP 4

Toss the salad greens with the lemon vinaigrette. Place each chicken breast on a plate and pile mound of salad on top. Serve hot with shaved or grated Parmesan on top.