Iron Chef

For my birthday, one of my gifts from the in-laws was a cast iron skillet. Mostly I’ve used it as an upper body workout moving it in and out of the oven - because where do you keep a 30 lb skillet – but decided when making this week’s menu to put it in the lineup. And the crowd went wild.

Naturally, I started with something as close to fried as possible – baked chicken parmesan. I let Matt handle the gross part of the chicken while I took this picture of the Grizz. See, I did listen in the 'sharing household responsibilities' portion of pre-marital counseling.

I thought he looked svelte and would appreciate being shown off. He’s rocking his new exercise routine – one full block 3x a week – ever since a neighbor called him a fatty.

After dipping the chicken in egg and coating with Italian bread crumbs, do a quick swirl in the skillet of EVOO. Add chicken. Sear chicken on each side for about 3 minutes.

Pour a glass of wine. Yes, I buy most wines because of the labels.

Admire new spring kitchen towel while ignoring the fact its 48 degrees out.

Spoon some pasta sauce onto the chicken. The beauty of the cast iron – move directly to the oven for 25 minutes. With a few minutes left, sprinkle on cheese. We were out of parmesan, so I used cheddar. Livin’ on the edge. At some point in your prep, boil some pasta, toss with some basil and oregano.

Tip: If you wait to eat dinner until 9 p.m., even a sub-par meal gets a happy plate. Next time I would probably take fewer pictures of the dog and pound out the chicken breasts so they are a little flatter, cook more evenly and seem like more food.

Took this picture as an afterthought, so my apologies the presentation isn't cookbook worthy.