Easy Chicken Parm

Reuse, Recycle. That's what I say. A bag of frozen boneless, skinless, chicken thighs can go a long way. They're cheaper than the breasts, and more flavorful, if you ask TBI and me.

If you have some Sunday Gravy lying in wait in your freezer (and you should), you can whip out chicken parm lickety split for a weeknight meal. Your squeeze will think he's getting something special but really you just wanted to use up stuff that was taking up room in your freezer. And you didn't want to work very hard at it.

Ingredients:

thawed chicken thighs - as many as you need. I always do three or four for the two of us because we likey the leftover.
2 cups or so of bread crumbs - storebought are fine. We're being FAST here.
Parmesan - use the green stuff if you must, but I am really into the big parmesan flakes that come in the tub - the fancy store brand - these days.
2 eggs
water, milk, or half and half (of course, here, it's half and half)
mozzarella
salt and pepper
dried basil, oregano, other misc. italian seasonings you have lying around
four tablespoons of olive oil
leftover Sunday Gravy

1) preheat your oven to 350

2) prepare your workstation. crack the two eggs in a bowl and pour in 1/3 of a cup of whatever liquid you decided to go with. Did I mention I recommend half and half? Pour your breadcrumbs onto a plate. Toss on some parm (I think more is better), and your spices and salt and pepper. You'll know how much. Go easy on the salt because the parm is salty.

3) lay some plastic wrap over the thighs and pound them thin, like 1/4 inch if you can get it done without tearing them.

4) Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a skillet at medium high - I am currently in love with my cast iron one. It gets smokin hot and stays that way.

5) While your oil heats, dredge your first chicken breast in your egg wash and then in the breadcrumb/parm mixture. Then toss it in the pan, and repeat with the rest.

6) Check them in the order they were placed in the pan. When the crumbs are brown and crusty and tempting looking, flip them. Only about a minute per side - if that.

7) As the thighs get browned, place them in a baking dish. I like to toss a little Sunday gravy in the bottom of my baking dish. Looks pretty, prevents sticking.

8) Put them in the oven for about 15 to 20 minutes (depending on how thin they were). Top them with a good mound of mozz in the last three or four minutes, just so it melts.

Serve these beauties atop a bed of spaghetti and your glorious garliky Sunday gravy.

If you are like me, you will serve it with some leftover (read: not so fresh) french bread that you doctored up with an immense amount of butter, garlic, and thyme and then ran under the broiler so no one knew it wasn't fresh. Also, a lazy bitch salad comes in handy here.

This whole thing, if you do it in the right order, should take 30 minutes, including the baking time. That's what I'm talking about. Because the baking part? I'm sitting in the living room watching Oprah during that time.