The Need To Know Classic That Is: Chicken Parmesan

Whether you call it chicken parmesan or chicken parmigiana, one thing is for certain - it is not an Italian dish. Its inspiration, the combination of parmigiana di melanzane, a dish using fried eggplant slices and tomato sauce, and a cotoletta, a breaded veal cutlet normally served without sauce or cheese, can be found on any Italian menu. As immigrants from Italy started to settle in the U.S. in the 1950s, the combination of breaded chicken breast covered in tomato sauce and cheese began appearing in restaurants and homes. With the recipe below, you will have a dish that is great on its own, used in a sandwich or with a side of, or on top of pasta. 

Ingredients

2 large boneless chicken breasts
450 g mozzarella, parmesan, or provolone cheese, sliced thick
226 g panko bread crumbs
6 eggs, beaten
extra virgin olive oil
your favourite tomato sauce

1. Preheat your oven's broiler. Put the bread crumbs in a large bowl next to the bowl your beaten eggs are in.
2. Butterfly the chicken breast, then pound it as thin as you can with a meat tenderizer (covering the meat in plastic wrap, and slamming your heaviest pan on it will also work) on a flat surface.
3. Dip the chicken into the egg, then into the panko. Press down on the bread crumbs, making sure the breast is completely covered. Repeat and place the meat on a plate for 15 -20 minutes. Do the same process for the other piece of chicken.
4. Heat up 2.5 mL of olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat - don't let the oil get too hot. Fry each chicken breast separately on one side for 5-7 minutes or until the edges turn a dark golden brown. As it cooks, baste the top of the meat with some of the oil in the pan. Flip the chicken breast when its bottom is sufficiently browned, and fry the other side.
5. While the chicken cooks spread some tomato sauce on a baking sheet. When the meat is ready, place it on the sauce, then add more sauce down the middle of the chicken breast. Top the meat with the cheese.
6. Place the baking sheet in the oven and broil everything for about 5 minutes until the cheese is well browned and bubbling.

Rasta Pasta Memories

A pasta dish that has recently caught people's attention is a Jamaican take on Italian cuisine. When it was first created, people associated the colours of this meal with the colours of Rastafarianism, and the shapes of the noodles with dreadlocks, earning the dish the name rasta pasta. I will always associate anything calling itself rasta pasta with a conversation I had in the 90s back when 8-ball and Starter jackets were fashionable and you could still smoke in malls. I was on a 95 heading back to Orleans from the Woodroffe campus of Algonquin with my friend who was instrumental in my creating an hors d'oeuvre. She had noticed that pasta was one of the specialties featured in neon on the sign that wrapped around the Dancing Mermaid restaurant near the Kent St bus stop, and said: "Does that say rasta on that sign?". As her boyfriend at the time was a friend of mine of Jamaican persuasion, I laughed and wisecracked "What, you're seeing a Jamaican guy and you're seeing rastas everywhere now?" Her look of shocked embarrassment egged me on to follow up with "Maybe you guys should go there, have some rasta pasta or something." The look soon turned to angry annoyance when another passenger on the bus joined in the fun saying she'd love a bowl of rasta pasta as well. My friend got back at me by telling our circle of friends that it was I who misread the sign and that she and the woman were the ones having a laugh at my expense. At least now with the recipe below they can have all the rasta pasta they want.

Ingredients

500 g boneless chicken breasts or shredded rotisserie chicken (if you have 2 cups of jerk ckicken, even better)
454 g pasta (fettuccine, penne, or rigatoni can be used)
25 g jerk seasoning (you can use a premade version if you want, or the following recipe)

15 g onion powder
15 g garlic powder
10 g teaspoons cayenne pepper
10 g teaspoons salt
10 g teaspoons ground black pepper
10 g teaspoons dried thyme (or use 5g ground thyme)
10 g teaspoons sugar (or use brown sugar)
5 g teaspoon ground allspice
5 g teaspoon dried parsley
5 g teaspoon paprika
2.5 g teaspoon hot pepper flakes
2.5 g teaspoon ground cinnamon
2.5 g teaspoon ground nutmeg
2.5 g teaspoon ground clove
1 g teaspoon ground cumin
Mix everything in a bowl until it is well combined. Store in an air-tight containter afterwards.

120 g green onions, sliced
120 mL coconut milk or heavy cream
80 g parmesan cheese, grated
60 mL chicken or vegetable stock
30 mL tablespoons vegetable oil, split into two equal portions
3 bell peppers preferably red yellow and green, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced

1. Cook the pasta according to the package instructions, take it out when it is “al dente”, and set it aside.
2. If you are using cooked chicken, chop it into pieces, toss it with the jerk season, and set everything aside. If you are using raw chicken breast, chop it into pieces, toss it with the jerk seasoning, and cook the chicken in a heavy-bottomed pot with one of the portions of vegetable oil until it's golden and cooked through. Remove the meat from the pot, and set it aside.
3. Pour the remaining vegetable oil into the pot, and saute the bell peppers with the green onions, and the minced garlic and cook until it’s fragrant. Add the coconut milk, the chicken, and the stock in the pot, and let everything simmer for a few minutes or until the sauce thickens. 
4. Taste to see if more jerk seasoning is required, then mix in the parmesan in the sauce and then mix in the pasta. Garnish with chopped chives, green onions, or parsley and serve.

The Need To Know Classic That Is: Cacio e Pepe

When people go to Italy, the dish that usually gets the most raves is one of the easiest dishes there is to make. Cacio e pepe, literally cheese and pepper, has been pleasing people since the days of ancient Rome. To get them through a hard day's work, shepherds would bring dried pasta, some hard, salty sheep's milk cheese, and black pepper with them in order to make a filling meal. While not traditional to cacio e pepe, bacon or seafood may be added, and other shapes of pasta may be used. However you serve it, it's simple but sophisticated comfort food at its best. Consider this the dish you deserve for surviving this year of the pandemic in the year Two Thousand and Twenty.  

Ingredients

450 g pasta (spaghetti, tonnarelli traditionally)
225 g pecorino Romano, very finely grated
7 g pepper (coarsely ground)
salt
extra-virgin olive oil

1. Bring a large pot of generously salted water to boil. When the water is at a hard boil, add the pasta, then turn off the heat. Place a lid on the pot and remove it from the burner - in 15 minutes you should have perfect al dente pasta. Save at least two cups of the pasta water after draining the pasta.
2. While the pasta is cooking, heat a large pan over medium heat with enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan. When the oil starts to shimmer, add the pepper, and let it cook for about 20 seconds. Pour 175 mL into the pan and let it boil.
3. Add the drained pasta to the hot pan. Using tongs, toss the pasta to coat it in the peppery liquid, then sprinkle in about 80% of the cheese. Keep tossing the pasta, adding more pasta water as needed to make a creamy sauce that sticks to the pasta, tasting and adding salt as needed.
4. Once done, finish with the remaining cheese and more pepper. Serve immediately.

The Need To Know Classic That Is: Spaghetti Bolognese

When my mother would make spaghetti for me and my dad, she would always cover the noodles with a hearty meat sauce topped with cheese. I didn't know if she knew it at the time (I certainly didn't), but she was making spaghetti bolognese. She must have learned how from the Italians she and my father rented a room from when they lived in Toronto back in the late sixties. The type of sauce she made has more in common with the ragùs made in the Neapolitan region of southern Italy than the sauces of the northern Bolognese area it gets its name from; a true Bolognese sauce is generally served in Italy with tagliatelle ribbons, and not with spaghetti; purists will even say spaghetti bolognese is not an authentic Italian dish. Nevertheless, it is still a tasty pasta dish and while this version may not be as good as the version I grew up with, it's still a worthy addition to your recipe repertoire.

Ingredients:

1 can (794 g) crushed tomatoes
454 g ground beef
454 g ground veal
454 g spaghetti
60 g unsalted butter
45 g tomato paste
180 mL red wine
125 mL whole milk
30 mL olive oil
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
grated parmesan or cheddar cheese, to serve
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1. Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan at medium-high. Add the onion and cook for about five minutes until soft, then add the garlic and cook for two minutes more.
2. Add the beef and veal and cook, stirring, and breaking the meat up using a wooden spoon until browned. Add the tomato paste and cook for two minutes, then add the red wine. Cook until reduced for about three minutes, then stir in the milk and tomatoes. Let it cook for one hour, then season with salt and pepper. Stir in the butter until it is melted, then, using a hand blender or stand blender, purée until slightly smooth but still chunky. Keep the sauce warm.
3. Bring a large saucepan of generously salted water to a boil. Add the spaghetti and cook according to the directions on the package. Drain, and add to the saucepan with the sauce, or plate the spaghetti, and spoon the sauce over it. Top with either parmesan or cheddar cheese.