Julie, Mum & Me: Chicken Parmigiana

'Ello 'ello.
One week ago today, mum and I made Chicken Parmigiana from Julie Goodwin's (the first masterchef) cookbook. Now, Mum and I did it a little differently to the recipe, but that's just because we're cool like that :)

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If you think about it, chicken parmigiana is just a fancy way of saying chicken snitchel with sauce. You see, my brother hates fish. And this one time we really wanted to have fish, so we made 'chicken snitchel' but with fish. He suspected it, but we fooled him into thinking it was chicken. Afterwards he said it was "amazing," brilliant," "yum!"
Then we told him. He was reaction was the funniest thing! I still tease him about it.

Serves 5 (with left overs for lunch!)

Sometimes, we're so easily fooled. And can feel like we're a small little dot in a world-sized dot-to-dot. Unimportant. But you need that dot for the drawing to work. If it's not there nothing else matches up. Maybe, God needs to feed you fish, instead of chicken (even if you don't like it!) so that you can open you're eyes to a bigger world outside your life, and grow.

The Sauce. (can also be used for spaghetti)

2 cloves of garlic
1 brown onion
700g of tomato puree
1/2 cup of white wine
1 stock cube (chicken or vegetarian) diluted in a cup of water (you can use liquid stock if you wish)
about 5 olives (Greek Kalamata)
handful of shredded parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon of sugar
salt and pepper to taste
1 small cinnamon stick
bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon of chilli puree or 1 long red chilli, chopped and seeded
handful of fresh basil, chopped finely

- You don't have to do that sauce (really, any tomato sauce to your liking if fine) -

Heat a little olive oil in a medium saucepan.
Chop and saute (lightly fry) the garlic and onion till soft.
Add all the ingredients for the sauce and bring to the boil.
Reduce the heat, and simmer for however long you like (it will develop the flavours better if it's left for longer, however, if you are planning on leaving it alone for a while, you should probably turn the heat off)
Taste, and adjust if necessary.

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The Chicken.
4 Chicken Breast fillets (NOTE: Just use the amount of meat that you usually would to feed your family. We used 4 chicken breast fillets (quite large) but that gave us bundles of leftovers, so it's really your choice)
Plain flour mixed with a little salt and pepper
2 eggs, beaten (use more if necessary)
Cornflour

Cut the chicken horizontally to create thin slices (it's easier to cut when the meat is a little frozen)
Pound the chicken with a meat mallet (or alternative) so the pieces have an even and thin surface
Put the flour in on a plate, the egg in a bowl, and the cornflour on another plate.
Line them up and dip/cover the chicken in each of them.

- At this point you can either cook them or wrap them in cling film and put in the fridge for later -

Fry the chicken in batches over medium heat, using fresh oil after each batch, till they are golden brown but still juicy on the inside. Cook them for about 3 minutes on each side, but you can vary this depending on your stove top.

Preheat a grill to hot, and arrange the cooked chicken on a baking tray. Spoon the tomato sauce over the top, and then sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
Put under the grill for 1-2 minutes, until the parmesan turns golden.

Serve with potato, and steamed or roasted vegies.