-Happy Quarantine-iversary!
It's been 50 days since school shut down for us.
[chanting, laughing] Quarantine!
Today, we're making chicken eggplant Parmesan.
It's two delicious things mashed together.
Because, number one, you shouldn't have to choose
between two delicious things.
And, number two, we all need comfort food right now.
And, to me, comfort food is something
that makes me feel great, emotionally and physically.
And it's gotta be delicious.
That goes without saying.
First, you need an eggplant,
and poke some holes into it with a fork.
I don't know, maybe like 10?
And I'm covering it with a sheet of plastic wrap
that is microwave-safe.
If you look at your plastic wrap,
it'll say whether it's microwave-safe.
Now, you put it in the microwave for 5 minutes
and what happens is the eggplant turns soft
and some of the water comes out of it,
so it really prepares it
without taking a lot of time or preparation.
Oh, that's great.
So you can see the eggplant has deflated,
a lot of the water has come out of it,
and, now, it's ready to eat.
Now, get another piece of plastic wrap.
Sometimes I have to wrestle with my plastic wrap a little bit.
For a chicken eggplant Parm today,
I'm using boneless, skinless chicken thighs.
You're gonna love these, for a lot of reasons.
Number one, great flavor.
It has so much more flavor than a chicken breast.
Number two, if you pound it down to make it a thin cutlet,
it actually cooks really quickly and it stays moist.
To turn this chicken thigh into a cutlet
that cooks quickly, you've gotta hit it with a rolling pin.
So, then, we have two plates.
On one side is a beaten egg.
And on the other side is breadcrumbs.
You might've seen my piece on salmon cakes
and we use nut crumbs.
I love nut crumbs.
If you can't eat bread or if you don't have it around,
just grind up some nuts in a grinder.
Fantastic.
We're going to cook the chicken in a small cast-iron skillet.
If you don't have one, don't worry about it.
Just any oven-proof pan will work.
So we'll just heat a little oil over medium heat.
While the oil is heating up, take your chicken cutlet
you've pounded so beautifully and dip it in your beaten egg.
And then, into your breadcrumbs.
Or nut crumbs, or whatever you got goin' on.
Now, some people put Parmesan cheese into their breadcrumbs.
I don't do that.
I like to put a lotta cheese on top,
where I can really taste it.
And then, do it with the second cutlet.
These crumbs were already seasoned,
so they had some salt and pepper in them.
If yours aren't seasoned,
just drop some salt and pepper in them.
Makes for a better piece of chicken.
And then, put the chicken into the skillet.
That chicken's frying!
So I'm gonna peel this eggplant.
It's cooled off, so I can take the top off.
And then, you can see the skin peels right off
and reveals the cooked flesh inside.
Mash it up with a fork and, now, you have cooked eggplant
that you can use pretty much anywhere.
Time to turn the chicken.
And, of course, you could just make this for dinner
and call it a night.
Cook the chicken for about 5 minutes per side.
It doesn't have to cook all the way through
because we're gonna stick it in the oven
for a few minutes later.
Chicken thighs are also fully cooked at a little bit
higher temperature than chicken breasts,
so they need a little bit longer to cook.
In this pan, with all these beautiful brown bits,
I want you to turn down the heat.
There's still some oil left in here
and we are going to cook some garlic.
So, to this garlic that we've just cooked for a few seconds,
we're adding our eggplant.
That eggplant is taking on the oil.
It's also taking on the flavor
that's left from frying the chicken.
Going to put in a little salt and pepper.
'Cause eggplant needs that to get personality.
And just cook it for, I don't know, about 1 minute.
Ugh! I wanna eat this right now.
Now, take a can of crushed tomatoes.
Whatever tomatoes you have around the house are fine.
If it's like a bottle of tomato sauce you love,
that's totally good.
Just right on top, a thin layer.
You might not have fresh basil right now.
If not, just leave it out.
I just like the way it looks, with the red and green together,
because it reminds me of the Italian flag.
We're just putting a thin layer of basil leaves
right on top of the sauce.
You don't have to chop the leaves, or anything.
I have some different cheeses to put on this.
If you only have one cheese, that's fine.
If you have no cheese, that's fine.
Just leave it off.
This is shredded whole-milk mozzarella,
which, to me, melts a lot easier and smoother
than part-skim mozzarella,
so I always try to use whole-milk mozzarella.
Now, I'm putting on some Parmesan cheese
'cause what's chicken eggplant Parm without the Parm?
This is fresh mozzarella cheese,
which is almost always made out of whole milk,
and it's really delicious, but it's a little wet,
so, I won't put it on top of the chicken.
I'm gonna put it in between
'cause I don't want the chicken to get soggy.
I want it to stay crunchy.
Now, put the chicken back into the skillet.
And, now, a little more Parmesan on top.
And then, you put that whole pan under the smokin' hot broiler.
Put it at the bottom of the oven,
so that it doesn't get broiled too quickly.
If you have any extra fresh basil,
it's great to just put it on top.
I was taught you never, ever, take a knife to basil.
I know that this is a controversial opinion,
but it's an Italian thing.
You just rip it with your hands.
I'm not above cutting it with a knife, but,
[whispering] I'm superstitious.
And, remember, if you put raw chicken on a cutting board,
you have to wash it before you put fresh produce on it
because you don't wanna go through all this
and survive coronavirus
and then get sick from cross-contamination.
Practice regular food safety.
It's been in the broiler for about 5 minutes.
[laughs] I know, right?
I know people wanna see the red of the tomato sauce,
and we will, when we plate it,
but the thing is, you gotta keep that chicken crispy
and crunchy because that,
with the creaminess of the eggplant, mwah!
So, if you wanna bring it to the table just like this,
put some fresh basil over the top
and just bring it, right like this.
It's gonna be super hot! I mean, look at that.
That's a celebration for any day of the week.
Can celebrate your mom for Mother's Day.
You can celebrate your dad for Father's Day.
You can celebrate Quarantine-iversary,
as I am today: fifty days without school.
But, I gotta tell you,
this looks like a celebration and a pan.
If you have more fresh basil, you can tear it up
and put it into a side salad.
A nice herb in a salad tastes delicious and fresh
and also is a thread through the entire meal.
Alright, here we go.
You really should let it cool for a while,
so that it solidifies,
so that it's less messy, but I can't wait.
Get the chicken, some eggplant, some cheese.
You're welcome.