A few days after our daughter celebrated her birthday by skydiving, we celebrated in a more down-to-earth way with a quiet family dinner of Chicken Parmesan over pasta and birthday ice-cream cake.(how-to recipe at bottom of this post)
I tried something a little different when breading the chicken. Instead of the usual flour/egg/breadcrumbs procedure, I skipped the eggs, soaked the chicken in buttermilk, then into the flour, back into the milk then into the breadcrumbs. Extra messy but the chicken was moist and tender!
If you don’t want to bother with the buttermilk, the standard breading is always good.
Chicken Parmesan
If you don’t want to bother with the buttermilk, the standard breading is always good.
Chicken Parmesan
Ingredients
2 cups buttermilk
8 boneless chicken breasts, pounded to 1/2-inch thick. If the chicken breasts are extra large, cut them in half before pounding.
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 1/2 cups fresh breadcrumbs (I like to use 1/2 Italian breadcrumbs and 1/2 panko)
1/2+ grated Parmesan cheese (we like lots)
vegetable oil for frying
Jar of your favorite marinara or sauce for topping the chicken and for serving over pasta
additional Parmesan cheese for topping and serving
Fresh basil
Directions
Preheat oven to 350
Add pounded chicken breasts to a bowl and cover with the buttermilk. Allow to marinate for several hours.
Place flour and breadcrumbs in separate shallow bowls.
Remove chicken from buttermilk and allow excess to drip off, coat with flour, shaking off excess. Dip back into the buttermilk and then into the breadcrumbs, pressing to get a good coating.
In a large cast-iron skillet or other heavy deep skillet, heat oil over medium to medium-high heat.
Working in batches, add chicken to skillet; cook, gently shaking skillet occasionally, until chicken is browned, about 4 minutes. Turn; cook 2 to 3 minutes more (if browning too quickly, lower heat). Between batches, skim off brown crumbs from oil with a slotted spoon. Drain chicken in single layer on rack.
With chicken still on the baking rack, spoon marinara sauce onto each piece; top with grated Parmesan. Bake in oven just until chicken is warmed and the cheese is melted.
Serve with pasta, if desired.
~ Happy Birthday, Erin Lee ~
Erin with her baby sister, Abbey, her son, Jared and John and I.
And, because this girl doesn’t like traditional birthday cake, I made her an ice-cream cake.
Ice ~ Cream Cake
1 package Oreo Cookies
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 container vanilla ice cream, softened
1 container ice cream flavor of your choice, softened
1 container Cool Whip, thawed
Make crumbs from cookies in blender or with rolling pin. Combine crumbs and melted butter, reserving 1 cup of crumbs.Firmly press remaining crumbs over bottom and up sides of a 9 or 10-inch springform pan. Freeze until firm (15 minutes).
Remove from freezer and spread vanilla ice cream in an even layer. Sprinkle with reserved crumbs. Return to freezer until ice cream is firm.
Spread second container of ice~cream. Cover top with foil and freeze, at least 4 hours or overnight.
Remove the springform side band and place ice-cream cake onto a serving plate/cake safe with a lid.
Frost as desired with the whipped topping. Cover and freeze.
If you want to personalize the cake top, place about 1/4 cup melting chocolate in the microwave at power 30 for 30 second intervals, stirring each time until melted. Pour in to piping bag and decorate.
Return the ice-cream cake to freezer until ready to serve, allowing 10-15 minutes thawing time to make cutting easier. Cake can be made and frozen up to two weeks ahead but be sure to wrap well with plastic wrap and cover with foil or cover to keep air out.
It all sounds delicious, especially the ice cream cake!! Belated Happy Birthday to Erin 🙂 x
Wish I had a piece of that ice cream cake! Dinner looks and sounds delish! The cake looks professional.
Looks like a great birthday.. the Chicken looks good and the cake as well.. thanks for sharing with love Janice
Can I join your family for my next birthday?…..lol That chicken looks so good and so does the cake
You're such an awesome Momma. What a special birthday dinner for your daughter. You look way too young to have older children and grandchildren….please share your secret!!!
It looks like your Erin had a wonderful birthday…I mean that Chicken Parmesan alone would be wonderful enough but the ice-cream cake put the meal over the top! Everything looks delicious and wonderful photos too! Have a great Wednesday 🙂