Our latest feast

Friday, September 11, 2009

Chicken In Pyjamas (Chicken Parmigiana)

"Parmigiana" is a big word for little children and both of mine have called this dish Chicken in Pyjamas for as long as I can remember. It's quite funny really as the chicken does look all snug and wrapped up in it's topping that I suppose it does actually resemble Chicken in Pyjamas... lol!!

There are several versions on how to cook this, especially in the pubs and bistros and all the ones I have tried are nice. Some breadcrumb the chicken fillet, some use bottled pasta sauce, some have ham, some don't, and the list could go on ... like every dish I think it comes down to taste and at times your region. Personally I prefer the chicken to be uncrumbed, topped with ham and a homemade tomato sauce, then finished off with cheese. But as the old saying goes "each to their own", right?

Besides the fact that my version of cooking Parmigiana is lower in fat/calories due to it not being crumbed removing that step makes this quite a quick and easy dish to prepare and cook. But by all means please feel free to crumb your chicken fillets.

Anyway this is how I made it and we all enjoyed it.... sorry about the plating, it could have been neater!! It was late and we were hungry. LOL - that's the problem with us food bloggers - making our family wait to eat is sometimes VERY VERY HARD!


Chicken Parmagiana

Serves: 4
Points per serve: 5

or 1 cup passata/pasta sauce
cooking spray
4 x chicken breast fillets, 125 grams each approx.
4 slices lite ham
100 grams grated low fat tasty cheese

Prepare Homemade Tomato Sauce as per recipe.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celcius.

Using a meat mallet, pound each chicken fillet to the same thickness. I find this easy to do between two sheets of baking paper.

Cover a baking tray with foil and spray with cooking spray. Place chicken fillets on to baking tray. Place a slice of ham onto each chicken fillet. Top with a quarter of the homemade tomato sauce and sprinkle evenly with grated cheese.

Cook in oven for 15 - 20 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and cheese is golden.

(click here for a printable version of this recipe)

3 comments:

GarlicBOSS said...

That looks good...thanks

Arlene Delloro said...

I got a good laugh from your children's pronunciation of this dish. In my family, we called it Chicken Papa John. Our maternal grandfather died when I was 3. My grandmother remarried a few years later, thus Papa John was our new grandfather. To this day, we still call the dish by that name. It makes us laugh because he was Swedish.

A modern day Essene said...

Thank you so much for taking the time to write this blog. I am new to Weight Watchers and this is really helping me to stay on track with healthy meals for my family. Just wanted to let you know that you are really helping someone out here!