I decided to give the Chicken Parm Taters another go on Friday last week. If you will recall, last time I came to the conclusion that while tasty, the potatoes were a bit lacking in the Chicken Parm flavor, which was, after all, half the point of the recipe. So, this time I did a few things differently. The results? Well I am very happy to report that it was a great success!
I'm actually quite proud of how these turned out, so I'm going to share the complete process once again. If anybody out there wants to give it a try, go for it! Just let me know what you think!
THE INGREDIENTS!!
8 medium baking potatoes
4 medium chicken breasts
16 oz ricotta cheese
3 tbs butter, diced
3 cups shredded mozzarella
1 16oz block mozzarella cheese
1 jar marinara sauce
1 c panko
3 more tbs butter, melted
freshly grated Parmesan cheese
THE METHOD!!
Scrub the potatoes clean and set aside to dry. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Rub the dry potatoes with a little canola or vegetable oil and place on a sheet pan (lined with parchment if you have it). Bake the potatoes for 45 minutes to an hour, or until they are fork tender. Set aside to cool slightly.
Meanwhile, cube the chicken and cook over medium to med-high heat in the skillet of your choice. You don't need anything fancy for this: a little olive oil (extra virgin not necessary), a little salt, a little pepper, done. Once cooked through, you can choose to dice the chicken into smaller bits if you like.
Slice sixteen strips of mozzarella off the block and set aside.
Mix the panko with the melted butter and set aside.
When the potatoes are just cool enough to handle (depending on your heat threshold), slice them in half longways. Use a spoon to scoop everything out of the middle and into a large bowel. Set the shells into a pair of 9x13in baking dishes, or a similar vessel of your choice. If you don't have two, either work in batches or just go get another one!
Mash the potatoes with a fork and incorporate the diced butter. Work in the ricotta, the shredded mozza, and the chicken. Get it all evenly combined, switching to a larger stirring implement (or your hands!) when it becomes necessary.
Scoop the potatoes mixture into the shells, mounding it slightly. When they're all full, make a little depression in the top of the mix, just to flatten it out a bit. Spoon two good tablespoons of marinara sauce over top of each potato, or a little more if you like! Top this with a slice of mozzarella. Sprinkle the whole thing with the panko mixture and the Parmesan cheese.
Bake at the same temperature as above for about ten to fifteen minutes, or until the cheese has melted and the panko has browned to that magical golden color.
Consume.
Ok, y'all've got to admit that looks pretty dang good. Like I said up above, I'm really pleased with how it turned out this time. If I were to do anything different on the next go, I'd probably up the chicken a bit, just for the sake of more meat. As I'm writing this, I've just realized that some Italian seasoning mixed in with the potatoes might not be a bad idea either, and I probably could've added some more salt and pepper to help season the taters as well. But honestly, we didn't miss it.
Keeping the sauce on the outside and spooning it over the top definitely helped to bring out the idea of Chicken Parmesan. Furthermore, I'm glad I left out the bacon and the green onions. Now, before you lynch me for my blasphemy against bacon, keep in mind that Chicken Parm doesn't use bacon, and that was part of the point. Bacon, while delicious, was not necessary in this dish. But... maybe next time I'll try a little bacon, if it'll make y'all happy.
So, that's the dish! I hope that some of you will give it a try. I hope even more that you'll try it and like it as much as we did. As always, I love getting feedback, both on the food and on the blog itself.
Thanks for reading!
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