Chicken Sorrentino with Eggplant

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Grease a sheet pan with cooking spray.

Step 2

Rinse the eggplant and pat it dry. Place the eggplant on a cutting board and slice off the stem and root ends and discard them. If you wish to peel the eggplant (recommended), use a vegetable peeler to peel off the skin and discard it. Slice the eggplant into 1/3-inch thick rounds.

Step 3

Place the flour in a soup bowl or dinner plate. In another soup bowl, beat two eggs.

Step 4

Add the bread crumbs to a small mixing bowl or dinner plate. Stir in the Romano cheese, garlic powder, salt and pepper.

Step 5

Set up an assembly line from left to right with the eggplants, flour, eggs, bread crumb mixture and the prepared sheet pan. Have three forks ready.

Step 6

Use a fork to place an eggplant slice into the flour. Flour both sides, turning over once.

Step 7

Use another fork to transfer the eggplant slice into the beaten eggs. Turn over to coat both sides, then let the excess egg drip off. Place the eggplant slice into the bread crumbs.

Step 8

Use another fork to pat the crumbs onto the eggplant, then flip the slice over and bread the other side. Transfer the breaded eggplant to the greased pan.

Step 9

Continue breading all of the eggplant slices. Place the eggplant slices in a single layer on the sheet pan. Spray the entire surface of the eggplant rounds with cooking spray. (This is important to achieve crispiness.)

Step 10

Bake the eggplants for 15 minutes on the first side (or until golden brown). Remove the pan from the oven and flip over the eggplants with a spatula. Spray the tops with cooking spray and bake for another five minutes, or until golden brown. They can stay at room temperature for up to 2 hours before needing refrigeration. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees if you're going to be baking the Chicken Sorrentino soon.

Step 11

Make one batch of Cooking with Mamma C's marinara sauce while eggplants are baking. (If you plan to serve pasta with this, make two batches of sauce.)

Step 12

If starting with three thick chicken breasts, you'll need to slice each one into two thin cutlets (like splitting a deck of cards). Once you have six thin chicken cutlets, pound them on a cutting board using a meat mallet or the bottom of a heavy pan. Pound them so they are all the same thickness. (This tenderizes them too.) Wash hands well after handling raw meat.

Step 13

In a tiny bowl, add 1/8 teaspoon each of garlic powder, salt and pepper. Stir or whisk to combine. Sprinkle the seasoning mixture evenly onto the chicken.

Step 14

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, add the chicken cutlets in a single layer. You should be able to fit them all snugly. Cook the first side for three minutes. Flip the chicken over and cook the second side for two minutes, then turn off the heat.

Step 15

Ladle 1/2 cup of marinara into a 9x13 pan and spread the sauce evenly along the bottom. (A standard ladle measures 1/2 cup.)

Step 16

Place the browned chicken in the pan, in a single layer. Top each cutlet with one slice of prosciutto. (If the prosciutto is longer than the piece of chicken, you can fold the meat if needed to fit nicely on top.)

Step 17

Top each cutlet with two breaded eggplant slices, side by side. (See photos in the post.) You will need at least 12 slices of eggplant but will have extra. You can add them to the pan with the chicken or just save those to eat later. Dot some sauce onto the eggplant slices in the pan.

Step 18

Cover the eggplant slices with the provolone. You'll need two slices of provolone, side by side, for each large chicken cutlet and one slice of cheese for smaller pieces of chicken.

Step 19

Bake, uncovered, for 10 minutes at 350 degrees F. The cheese should be melted. Then, broil under high heat for 2 1/2 minutes or until the cheese is browned.(Watch carefully during broiling, so nothing burns.)

Step 20

Remove the chicken from the oven and let it sit for five minutes. Stack the basil leaves and roll them into a cylinder. Snip the basil into ribbons with scissors or cut them with a small knife. Sprinkle the basil ribbons onto the chicken.

Step 21

To serve, ladle some marinara sauce onto each plate and place the chicken on top of the sauce. (Or, serve over pasta and ladle sauce on top.)

Step 22

Store leftover Chicken Sorrentino covered in the refrigerator for up to four days. Refrigerate extra breaded eggplant slices for up to four days. Refrigerate extra marinara separately for up to a week. Each of these items may be frozen.