Not Le Menu Chicken Parmigiana

Oh so good!

My daughters and I seem to talk about food a lot. I was talking about chicken parmigiana with one of my girls the other day and she reminded me about Le Menu Chicken Parmigiana. Le Menu was a microwavable tv dinner back in the eighties. In those days, I worked full time outside the home (too bad blogging wasn't around then) plus having all the usual responsibilities and commitments of a husband, children, pets and community. You get the picture. I rushed around a lot to stay on top of it all. Being a true eighty's lady, I had no qualms about feeding my family from the frozen food aisle when time was short and schedules were crazy. Le Menu Chicken Parmigiana frozen dinner with its tasty chicken breast smothered in tomato sauce and cheese, fettucine alfredo and Italian green beans was popular at our house. My daughter also reminded me how great the reusable Le Menu plates with their microwave covers were, too. We had those around long after Swanson's stopped making Le Menu.

That's enough reminiscing for the moment, but now you know how this recipe got its name.

Chicken Parmigiana does take a little time to prepare. I find it is always worth the effort. There are many recipes for it out there. This one takes you step-by-step through how I do it. I like to serve it with a pasta and steamed green beans. Here's to you Le Menu!

MA's Chicken Parmigiana

Preheat oven to 350°.

Pound chicken to flatten slightly

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

¼ cup flour
1 egg
1 tsp water
1 cup dry, unseasoned bread crumbs
1 tbsp each minced fresh parsley, basil and oregano or 1 tsp each crumbled dried parsley, basil and oregano
salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup olive oil
2 ½ cups tomato sauce, homemade or your favourite from a jar or tin
6 to 8 ounces Mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese


MA's Tip: Homemade tomato sauce will always taste better than store-bought. But let's be realistic, there's not always time to make your own. I like to take the plainest store-bought sauce and add my own herbs and spices to it. It makes me feel better about using the store-bought stuff and I can customize the herbs and spices to suit the dish. In this dish, for instance, I would add parsley, basil and oregano. And, one more cooking confession ... when I don't have a chunk of Parmesan in the fridge, I use the pre-grated "sprinkle cheese" Parmesan. You know the kind. In fact, I used it to make the Chicken Parm you see here, and it tasted just great. Okay, back to the recipe.

Trim any fat from chicken breasts and, if desired, remove tendons. One at a time, place chicken breasts between sheets of waxed paper and pound gently with a mallet or a heavy, empty bottle. Pound until flattened slightly.

Line up for coating the chicken

In a shallow bowl or pie plate, place the flour. 

In a second shallow bowl or pie plate, combine egg and water.

In a third shallow bowl or pie plate, combine crumbs, herbs, salt and pepper.

In a large frying pan, heat up the oil over medium high heat.

One at a time, coat chicken breasts in flour, then dip into egg/water mix, then coat with crumb/herb mix.

Place breasts into frying pan and brown thoroughly, about 10 minutes per side.

Add Mozza and sauce (and Parm, of course)

Into a large baking dish, spoon about half the tomato sauce and spread evenly to cover the bottom of the dish. Place the chicken breasts on top of the sauce. Spoon remaining sauce over and around the chicken breasts. Top breasts with slices of Mozzarella and sprinkle evenly with Parmesan. 

Cover the baking dish with foil. Bake for 35 minutes. (If your chicken breasts are more than a half-inch thick, be sure to bake them a little longer to ensure they are cooked through.)

If you want, you can brown the top by removing the foil and putting the dish under the broiler until the cheese bubbles and browns.

Serve hot.

Makes 4 servings.

Printable Recipe for MA's Not Le Menu Chicken Parmigiana