It was a Monday night and I needed something quick and simple for dinner. Mondays are a busy day here and I often work right up until dinner time, leaving me little time to cook. What Would Martha Do? A recipe from Everyday Food for light chicken parm seemed like it should fit the bill for this. I actually found this on the web site, not in the mag.
The first hurdle with the recipe is something that’s not in the recipe – or any recipe for that matter. Defrosting the chicken. While it’s nice to use fresh meat, I don’t often plan my meals out in advance, so I don’t have fresh chicken sitting in the fridge, singing a little chicken song to itself and waiting happily to be used.
I find defrosting to be a challenge. You have to be careful to do it slowly so it doesn’t cook the edges, but you do have to get it to defrost fully. Nothing is worse than that gross white cooked edges you get. What I usually do is defrost it most of the way, then let it just sit in the microwave for about 10 or 15 minutes and it seems to do the rest itself. That’s my tip for the day, folks. Genius, I know.
Homemade Wheat Breadcrumbs
Ok, to get down to business I had to first make the breadcrumbs. Normally I just use a store brand Italian breadcrumb mix, but Martha dictates the use of pieces of wheat bread ground up with some salt and pepper, oil and parm cheese. I do like the idea of using up some old bread crusts and I always prefer whole wheat to white, however having to get the Cuisinart dirty is a pain. There’s never room in the dishwasher for that darn thing. I usually avoid it like the plague. I do think this breadcrumb mixture needed some herbs, but Martha did not suggest them.
Ready for the Oven
The most exciting idea in this recipe is the directive to only bread one side of the chicken breasts. I never thought of doing this, but it is brilliant. It cuts calories and you do not notice the difference.
My chicken breasts did not cook in the time specified – 10 to 12 minutes. Granted, I used organic chicken and I find it does take longer. At 9 minutes it was raw inside and getting almost burned on the outside. I switched to convection at 375 degrees and cooked it another 10 minutes and it was perfect.
Voila!
The breading did not taste as crisp as I normally would like. I usually pan fry my chicken parm with a little olive oil, so I did miss that a little, but this is a nice light alternative.
I confess I used a jar of spaghetti sauce that was sitting already opened in the fridge (I know, so not Martha)instead of making the tomato sauce in the recipe. On a Monday night I would much rather do that, not to mention my 10 year old would much prefer something from a jar.
All in all, I would call this recipe a good thing. My biggest takeaway from it is the idea of breading only one side. Thanks Martha.
What Martha recipes do you suggest for a busy weeknight?
It was a Monday night and I needed something quick and simple for dinner. Mondays are a busy day here and I often work right up until dinner time, leaving me little time to cook. What Would Martha Do? A recipe from Everyday Food for light chicken parm seemed like it should fit the bill … Read more →
Because I wanted one for myself, Mr. MarthaAndMe and the most wonderful Justin Chow, designer extraordinaire, designed a t-shirt on Cafepress that says “What Would Martha Do?” It’s got the little implements that are in the MarthaAndMe new logo (also designed by Justin) on it and it says MarthaAndMe on the back in smaller letters. I really wanted a t-shirt for me and decided to share with others who might enjoy it. Mr. MarthaAndMe set it up so you can get the same image on an apron,sweatshirt, long sleeve t-shirt, tote bag, mug, mousepad, dog t-shirt, etc. They make great holiday gifts. And, yes, I make a very small percent 
from each one, which will help defray the cost of the design for the new logo. Check out the products – and thanks Mr. MarthaAndMe and Justin! A box about this will be permanently hanging out over on the right hand side of the blog if you want to find it again in the future.
