Unconventional Chicken Parmesan

This was inspired by a friend who made it in a slightly different way about a week ago. When an opportunity came this week for me to make dinner, I wanted to give it a try. It was so delicious I wanted to eat it all! I managed to restrain myself and left enough for Don and for one portion of leftovers – that Don got to take to work. I may have to make it again soon so I can have more. 🙂

Here’s what I used:

3 chicken thighs
salt
pepper
1 tbsp minced garlic
1/2 sweet onion
1/2 jar Emeril’s Roasted Red Pepper Spaghetti Sauce (gluten-free and made with natural ingredients)
1 medium-sized spaghetti squash
parmesan cheese
mozzarella cheese

My Method

I rubbed the chicken thighs with a little salt and pepper and then placed in about an inch of water in our wok. (We tend to cook just about everything in our wok which might seem weird to some but, hey, it works.)  I turned the burner to medium and placed the lid on the wok. I cooked the chicken this way for about ten minutes, then turned it over and let it cook for another ten minutes or so. The chicken turns white and the water boils but does not cook off because the lid keeps it trapped in the pan. It sort of boils and steams the chicken. This allows it to be extremely tender and juicy.

While the chicken cooked, I also preheated the oven to 450 for baking later.

Once I felt comfortable that the chicken was thoroughly cooked, I removed the lid and added the tbsp of garlic and the diced onion to the water. I moved the onions to the center of the pan and surrounded them with the chicken. I let it all continue to cook this way as the water cooked off and the onions cooked down to be soft and translucent. This took about five minutes, maybe a little longer. While I waited, I poured the spaghetti sauce into a 8 x 8 square baking dish. When I was ready to add the onions and chicken to the dish, I removed the chicken and set it aside so I could pour the onion and garlic mixture into the pan and mixed well with the sauce. Then I added the chicken to the pan and covered the thighs with the sauce. Lastly, I topped it all with a generous sprinkling of shredded parmesan cheese, then a layer of shredded mozzarella cheese on top of that. I placed the pan in the oven and baked for 15 minutes (until the cheese was browning and the sauce was bubbly.)

As the dish baked, I cooked my spaghetti squash and prepared my “noodles.” This was the first squash I cooked personally and I am glad to report I did just fine. (I’m always a little nervous the first time I do anything.) For details on how to cook a spaghetti squash see this previous post.

Not your traditional breaded chicken parmesan but a delicious alternative in my opinion. I topped my plate with a little more shredded parmesan and gobbled it up.

Once you’re sensitized to the negative effects of unhealthy choices, it gets easier to turn down what used to seem impossible to resist. 
~ Mark Sisson, The Primal Blueprint