In this lab, I made a dish of Chicken Parmigiana with Spaghetti Alio i Olio. The purpose was to learn how to handle, season, bread, and cook chicken breasts, as well as create a basic sauce and cook pasta.
Safety and Sanitation
To ensure my safety, I used oven mitts when handling hot trays, and I called out when I was holding something hot. I made sure to handle the deep fryer baskets properly, and handled the chicken with tongs. For the noodles, I made sure to not touch the hot pan, and I made sure that the knife on the cutting board was a hazard to our workspace. I also made sure that someone with dry hands unplugged the burner when mine were wet.
I could make sure to wash my hands, use a glove when handling chicken, be careful to prevent cross-contamination between trays, and ensure that the chicken was cooked enough and was over the chicken danger zone.
Tools and Equipment
I used a frying pan, an induction burner, some metal cups, a cutting board, a knife, a glove, a plastic bag, a metal tray, and then a deep fryer + convection oven.
Ingredients
The ingredients we used for the noodles were 6 cloves of garlic, 3 tbsp of oil, chili flakes, cut parsely, pepper, salt, and pasta water. For the chicken, I used flour, egg, breadcrumbs, and then both parmesan and cheddar(?) cheese. In addition, there was some tomato sauce for the chicken as well. I don't think I would change anything, because the very light pasta sauce was still quite tasty. If I were to, I would try the tomato sauce for the whole pasta instead of the chicken.
Procedure
First, my station was set up with an induction burner, a bag of pasta, some parsely, and some oil. A cutting board and a knife was also added, along with a frying pan. First, the garlic cloves were finely chopped for the pasta. Next, two chicken breasts were placed in a plastic bag, and pounded with a rolling pin until they were very thin. Then, they were removed and placed on a metal tray. The chicken was seasoned on both sides with salt and pepper, then the chicken was breaded. To bread the chicken, it was first dredged in flour, then an egg mixture, and finally some breadcrumbs. Once fully coated in breadcrumbs, both breasts were placed in a deep fryer basket and deep fried. The chicken was fried until golden brown, then removed and placed on a clean tray. Then, a tomato sauce was spooned over the chicken, and cheese was added. Finally, the chicken was placed in the convection oven for about 10 minutes to melt the cheese and ensure full cooking.
To make the pasta, the frying pan was first preheated, and then oil was added. The garlic was added to the pan first to sweat, then some pepper and chili flakes were added. The next step was to add the pasta, along with some pasta water. Finally, once the pasta was cooked enough, some parsley was added, and some salt was added to the pasta to improve the seasoning. Then, the pasta was placed in a container. Once the chicken from the oven was finished cooking, it was placed on top of the pasta.
Challenges
The garlic in the pasta sauce ended up slightly overcooked. I could cook the garlic for less time, to prevent it from getting burnt like it did.
Successes and Growth
I seasoned, breaded, and cooked the chicken breasts very well.
Advice for Beginners
I think that anybody can try cooking it. The only thing which you can really mess up is undercooking the chicken, which you can avoid by checking the temperature. The process is relatively simple for both the chicken and the pasta, and even if you make some mistakes like me, a little bit of salt can really help! The key part to making good pasta is not overcooking the garlic. Make sure it doesn't go past light browning.
Final Evaluation
This dish was definitely a 9/10. The taste of the pasta (despite the mildly burnt garlic) was great; there was some mild spice, and it was somewhat savoury. The garlic added a nice base flavour as well. The chicken also tasted wonderful, especially with the cheese and tomato sauce. The chicken was nice and crunchy, while being extra soft under the outside layer. The noodles were nice and al-dente, and weren't too soft. The noodles looked fancy with the little flecks of green parsley, and the chicken breast looked incredible. It was golden brown, with a sharp red on top, covered with white cheese. When it comes to the work involved, it was easy, fun, and well worth it.