Eggplant Chicken Parmigiana

I love Chicken Parmigiana, it's a bit time consuming and messy to put together, but it tastes so good and you can get it all ready to go and then just stick in the oven when you are just about to eat it.

I usually just have chicken, but this time I had some extra eggplant in the fridge, so decided to fry that up as well and stick it on top of the chicken. It was so yummy!

I served it with a roasted pumpkin salad, in which I cubed some butternut pumpkin and tossed it in olive oil and salt and roasted in the oven for about 45 mins at 180 degrees. I did this while I was preparing the parmigiana, so that it was done by the time I put the chicken in the oven. I let the pumpkin cool and then mixed it with some rocket and Caesar salad dressing just before serving.

Chicken on bottom, then eggplant and tomato sauce

Cross-section of dish

Ready to go in the oven!

Chicken Eggplant Parmigiana - Serves 2

1 Chicken Breast
Flour for Coating
1 Egg
Breadcrumbs
Olive oil for Frying
Eggplant - Optional
1 Clove Garlic
1 small brown onion
Tin of Crushed Tomatoes
Red Wine Vinegar
Fresh Basil
Mozzarella Cheese
Parmesan Cheese

1. First chop the onion and garlic and saute in olive oil until soft

2. Add the tin of tomatoes to the garlic and onion and let this simmer, while stirring occasionally, while you prepare everything else.

3. Cut the chicken breast in half and then place the halves between glad wrap and smash it with a mallet, or rolling pin, or whatever you fancy

4. Place the flour on a plate and season with salt and pepper, whisk the egg in a wide shallow bowl, and put the bread crumbs on a different plate

5. Grab the flattened chicken breasts and dip in the flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs. Put them on a plate and place in the fridge while you fry the eggplant

6. Slice the eggplant in 1/2 cm slices, put some oil in a pan and get it nice and hot. Once the oil is hot, fry the eggplant until it is nice and soft. You could do this on a grill pan, but I don't have one of those....yet. Once they are done put them on a plate lined with kitchen towel to absorb the extra oil. Eggplant needs a lot of oil..

7. Once the eggplant is done, you can now fry the chicken. Use the same pan, and you will need to add more oil if your eggplant hasn't soaked it up already. Fry the chicken breasts on each side until they are nice and golden.

8. The tomato sauce should be ready now, splash in about 1/2 tbs red wine vinegar and mix through some fresh basil leaves. Taste and check for seasoning. I sometimes add a bit of sugar to my sauce as well.

9. It's time now for layering the dish. In an oven proof dish put the chicken breasts, then layer the eggplant, then spread the tomato sauce all over it. Then grate or slice your mozzarella on top and shave the Parmesan over that. I don't specify any cheese quantities, as it's up to you what you think is enough.

10. Place in a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius for about 20 minutes, or until the cheese are melted and turning brown.

I usually serve this with a salad as I find it is quite filling. Hope you enjoy it!