Z2 Chicken and Eggplant Stacks (EASY and QUICK)

This is a Z2 (ZReduction) recipe. This is super flavorful.  Tastes just like chicken parmesan without the cheese.  Don’t be afraid of eggplant.  This stuff is GREAT.

Serves: 2 Can be doubled easily or made into a bigger batch for a family.

Ingredients: 

  • 1 package of chicken cutlets. These are breast pieces that have been sliced thinly so they cook fast.  If your store doesn’t carry them, you can slice your own chicken breasts into thin slices.  Just use a sharp knife and be careful. You can also make this with a regular breast but it will take longer to cook and not stack as nicely.  It’s not a big deal, though.
  • 1 egg white
  • ¼ cup of breadcrumbs (this is half of your crunch portion)
  • Whisper of cayenne (optional)
  • 2 Chinese eggplants or 2 baby eggplant. (Don’t use regular globe eggplant. It has a tendency to make people stall)
  • Pasta sauce with no sugar or a 15oz can of crushed tomatoes with no sugar.   (Hunts is a good brand to use)

Instructions:

Preheat your broiler.

Cut the ends off of the eggplant and discard.  Then slice the eggplant in quarter-inch thick slices.  Spray a cookie sheet with oil and place the eggplant slices on the sheet. Spray the tops. Broil for only a few minutes to cook the eggplant. You can watch for it to begin to brown on the edges and then take it out.

Now turn the oven to 350 degrees.

Set up a dipping station to coat your chicken pieces.

On one plate put the egg white.  Stir to break it up.

Set a plate next to it with the breadcrumbs.  Dust on cayenne if you are using it.

In a saute pan, lightly spray olive oil and heat to medium.

Dip the chicken pieces in egg white first,  then in breadcrumbs and finally place in the saute pan. Cook on medium just 3 – 4 minutes to brown one side.  Then take them out, turn them over so the crunchy side is up top and place them in an ovenproof pan.  Bake for 10 -20 minutes depending on how thick they are. They are done when there is no pink in the chicken.

While the chicken is baking you can make your sauce.  In a small saute pan heat up one cup of the pasta sauce/crushed tomatoes.  I jazzed up the flavor of my crushed tomatoes with a little garlic powder and Italian seasoning. If you are using pasta sauce you don’t necessarily need to do this but it’s fun to make it to your taste.

On your plate, alternate stacking chicken slice, then eggplant and then a bit of sauce.  Per portion you can have up to a quarter cup of sauce and still maybe have a bit of a side veggie. Just make sure you account for your eggplant in your veggie calculation. When I ate this I had enough eggplant and sauce that I did not have any other veggie and I didn’t need any.  I was definitely full when I was done.

Limit your chicken to 6 – 8 ounces.  That’s the equivalent of one, medium-small breast.  Some of the breasts these days are huge.

Enjoy

Cheers,