Monday, December 24, 2012

What's for Dinner: Open-Faced Chicken Parmesan Sandwiches

Late last week, on Friday, I made open-faced Chicken Parmesan sandwiches for dinner for my family:

I had loaves of Italian bread sitting at home, and I couldn't think of what to make with it.

Here's how I made it:
  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  • Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a skillet.
  • Flatten pieces of chicken cubes or breast fillets (I cut my fillets into tinier pieces today because I thought it would work best. Next time, I'd make them even smaller, bite size perhaps).
  • Marinate your chicken with salt, pepper, paprika, garlic, ginger, cayenne pepper, oregano (about 1/2 teaspoon). 
  • In a large ziploc bag, combine breadcrumbs and about 1-2 tablespoons of parmesan cheese (this will depend on your preference... put as much more as you'd like). Then, in batches, add pieces of chicken into the ziploc bag. Ziploc the bag, and shake well to coat all the pieces of the chicken. Remove the chicken from the bag, and repeat until and the chicken pieces are coated. I do this portion in a ziploc bag for three reasons: a) easy clean up b) I don't spend forever coating each piece of chicken --- a huge time saver c) I always find that the coating is always done better this way and creates a nice crust.
  • In the heated skillet, cook the chicken.
  • You could certainly make your own bread, or use whatever type of loaf/loaves you have at home, but I used store-bought Italian bread for mine.
  • To assemble, on the loaves, spoon in a nice coating of (marinara) sauce. Add chicken on top, followed by more sauce (enough to cover everything). Sprinkle a generous amount of (mozzarella) cheese on top. Top with dried oregano leaves on top.
  • Put your open-faced sandwiches in the oven for about 8-10 minutes to warm up the sauce, and melt the cheese. Just watch the oven, the time will vary depending on the cheese and sauce.
Next time, however, I'd probably do the following differently:
  • Scoop some of the bread out of each of the thirds and use them instead to make fresh breadcrumbs. This way, the fillings and toppings would fit better and wouldn't be so thick. I think it'd be easier to cut too (and the scooped-out parts wouldn't go to waste). Or perhaps just use a different type of loaf (French, maybe?)
  • Cut the chicken into much smaller pieces so they are more manageable to cut and eat.
Check out other things I've made recently:
Oven-Fried Chicken
Homemade Dinner Rolls with Rosemary and Black Pepper

P.S. This post is a part of my "What's for Dinner" series, where I share what I've been cooking and my recipes. Grab and share my button:


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