Post Christmas health kick – Chicken Parmigiana

Christmas for us is all about eating, drinking, family and friends.  Now that it is over and the last of the butter tarts are gone, hubby and I have decided to get back into the health regime….especially in anticipation of our trip to Kauai in March!  And part of the regime means eating as “clean” as possible (save for the wine which I refuse to give up).  So we are ‘kinda’ following the Primal diet (Paleo is just TOOOOOOO restrictive) which, in its most basic sense, means we have cut out grains and processed food (except wine…if that is considered processed.  🙂  ).

Tonight is a spin on Chicken Parmigiano and it was amazing.  I will give you the ingredients below but I must admit, the  measurements are SUPER rough ’cause we completely wing it when we cook!

You need some chicken obviously.  Here we have some pan seared chicken thighs (boneless/skinless).

Baby zucchini!

Fresh Basil!

Olives! (we used Kalamata ’cause that is what we had in the fridge albeit not very “Italian”)

Homemade tomato sauce with garlic and arugula pesto.

Starting the layering with chicken and ricotta cheese….

Sprinkle the olives…

Raw zucchini layer

Sauce!

Adding the basil..

Fresh mozza…don’t use the usual lame packaged stuff!

Fresh out of the oven

Gordie’s upright portion

Mine…upside-down (but still amazing)

Paired with Gotham Shiraz – not what I would normally pair this meal with, but tasted great.  And for $14 – what the hell!

Ingredients:

12-14 boneless/skinless Chicken thighs pan-fried (you could use breasts but white meat is so boring!)

1 1/2 cp of ricotta cheese

1 cp chopped olives (we used kalamata)

4 raw baby zucchini

3 1/2 cups tomato sauce (we used a can of San Marzano tomatoes, garlic (6 cloves), 1/2 cp arugula pesto (made the same as regular pesto except with arugula), tbsp each of dried basil and oregano, and salt and pepper

1 1/2 cups chopped fresh basil

1 cp fresh mozza

Fresh parmigiano cheese (which we forgot!)

*Note: If you hate olives, omit them but add salt to the zucchini.  If you hate zucchini, add a different veggie – or skip it all together.  If you hate cheese, then forget about this recipe.  Everything is better with cheese!!

Assemble as above and place in an oven at 400 for about 15 minutes.  Then turn to broiler and add 2 more minutes to brown the top of the cheese.   Let rest for at least 5 minutes.  There will likely be a fair amount of liquid in the bottom so use a slotted spoon when serving into oven-warmed plates or bowls. Sprinkle with fresh parmigiano cheese.

Pair with water, a light beer, chardonnay, bubbly, or any red you love ’cause really, who cares. 😉