bachelor's chicken parmigiana
1 serving frozen, breaded chicken strips
spaghetti sauce
1 serving spaghetti
shredded parmesan cheese (or mozzarella or whatever, if you don't like parm)
to taste:
salt & pepper, garlic, oregano
boil water for pasta. heat a skillet with a bit of oil in it (i skipped the oil and regretted it, even though i used a non-stick skillet) over medium heat. salt the water and add spaghetti when it boils. when the pan is hot, add premade chicken strips (no dredging needed!) in a single layer and cover with spaghetti sauce. add salt & pepper, garlic or garlic powder, oregano and whatever else you want. (i put in a couple of spoonfuls of canned, diced tomatoes i kept from making salsa earlier to give it a better texture and a bit of a fresh flavor. lemon juice or zest would also be nice.) flip the strips, recover with sauce and cheese. cover the skillet with a lid. drain the pasta, plate it, and slide or spoon the chicken and sauce on top. garnish however you like!
i actually used 1 chicken strip and some chicken nuggets from the podunk grocery and i'll tell ya, the strip was a far better consistency; the nuggets wound up kinda mealy (still tasty, though). however, having oil in the pan probably would have helped that a little. so. there's that, for what it's worth.
anyway. easy, 3 ingredients and some spices you probably already have, expandable... ba-da-bing! you can benefit from my laziness and lack of planning!
now, i'm gonna go eat out all weekend.
spaghetti sauce
1 serving spaghetti
shredded parmesan cheese (or mozzarella or whatever, if you don't like parm)
to taste:
salt & pepper, garlic, oregano
boil water for pasta. heat a skillet with a bit of oil in it (i skipped the oil and regretted it, even though i used a non-stick skillet) over medium heat. salt the water and add spaghetti when it boils. when the pan is hot, add premade chicken strips (no dredging needed!) in a single layer and cover with spaghetti sauce. add salt & pepper, garlic or garlic powder, oregano and whatever else you want. (i put in a couple of spoonfuls of canned, diced tomatoes i kept from making salsa earlier to give it a better texture and a bit of a fresh flavor. lemon juice or zest would also be nice.) flip the strips, recover with sauce and cheese. cover the skillet with a lid. drain the pasta, plate it, and slide or spoon the chicken and sauce on top. garnish however you like!
i actually used 1 chicken strip and some chicken nuggets from the podunk grocery and i'll tell ya, the strip was a far better consistency; the nuggets wound up kinda mealy (still tasty, though). however, having oil in the pan probably would have helped that a little. so. there's that, for what it's worth.
anyway. easy, 3 ingredients and some spices you probably already have, expandable... ba-da-bing! you can benefit from my laziness and lack of planning!
now, i'm gonna go eat out all weekend.