Chicken Melanzana is a tasty, Italian meal made with boneless chicken breasts topped with eggplant, ripe tomatoes, marinara sauce and Mozzarella cheese.
Happy Monday, I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I was pretty busy as usual chauffeuring the kids to cheering practice; then headed to a cheer competition at a local college for our eldest daughter (they took 1st...YAY!).
My husband and I also took advantage of a last minute family gathering cancellation and went on a date night to The Capital Grille for dinner. Great food and the wine list is incredible!
We also De-Christmased (I know...it's not a real word!) the house. It was fun while it lasted, but onto bigger and brighter beginnings for 2014.
I'm back in my kitchen in full force and have a LOT of wonderful new recipes to share with you in the coming weeks. We got a Vitamix for Christmas so I'm going to try my hand at some smoothies too so be on the lookout!
What does Melanzana mean?
Ok, so onto our first new recipe for 2014 with this Chicken Melanzana. Never heard of it? Well actually, I made it up the name of this recipe.
Melanzana or melanzane is the Italian word for eggplant. And since this recipe had so many wonderful components, it was hard to come up with a short, concise name for this recipe.
How do you make Chicken Melanzana?
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Pound each piece of chicken flat with a meat mallet to make them uniform in thickness. Add flour to a bowl and dredge the chicken in the flour until all pieces have been coated.
Heat the oil and butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat; then add the pieces of chicken. Brown the chicken 2-3 minutes per side and place the chicken in a large oven safe 13x9 baking dish in a single layer. You may have to brown the chicken in two batches.
In a small saucepan, combine the marinara sauce and half & half; then heat over a medium flame. Add one slice of eggplant and one slice of tomato to each chicken breast; then top with sauce.
Sprinkle the cheese on top of each piece of chicken; then bake for 25-30 minutes until the cheese is hot and bubbly. This Chicken Melanzana was amazing!~Enjoy!
VISIT THE RECIPE INDEX TO SEARCH FOR MORE RECIPES BY CATEGORY.
More Chicken Recipes
SIGN UP FOR MY WEEKLY NEWSLETTER AND RECEIVE A FREE EBOOK!
Chicken Melanzana
Ingredients
- 10- (4-ounce) boneless chicken breasts
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 small eggplant (sliced ½-inch thick)
- 3 medium ripe tomatoes (sliced ½-inch thick)
- 2 cups prepared marinara sauce
- ½ cup fat free half and half
- 1 ½ cups shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Pound each piece of chicken flat with a meat mallet to make them uniform in thickness.
- Add flour to a bowl and dredge the chicken in the flour until all pieces have been coated.
- Heat the oil and butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat; then add the pieces of chicken. Brown the chicken 2-3 minutes per side and place the chicken in a large oven safe baking dish (I used a 13"x9") in a single layer. (You may have to brown the chicken in two batches.
- In a small saucepan, combine the marinara sauce and half & half; then heat over a medium flame.
- Add one slice of eggplant and one slice of tomato to each chicken breast; then top with sauce.
- Sprinkle the cheese on top of each piece of chicken; then bake for 25-30 minutes until the cheese is hot and bubbly.
Leave a Reply