Olive Garden Parmesan Crusted Chicken

Okay, so I love the Olive Garden and sadly there isn't one anywhere near me.  I actually have to drive about 4 hours just to get the delicious unlimited breadsticks and delicious pasta.  I have tried for years to find a recipe that would hail in comparison to their Parmesean Crusted Chicken, and luckily I was able to find a quick recipe on a website that had similar-to-restaurant recipes.  I found this gem and doctored it a bit to my tastes.

Do you have any Olive Garden recipes?!
Makes 4 servings.

Ingredients
1 C. Plain Bread Crumbs
2 Tbsp. Flour
1/4 C. Kraft Parmesan Cheese
1 C. Milk
6 (1/2″) Thick Pieces of Chicken Breast Strips
Vegetable Oil ( frying )
2 C. dry Bowtie Pasta
2 Tbsp. Butter
3 Tbsp. Olive Oil
2 tsp. Crushed Garlic
1/2 C. White Table Wine (Chablis)
1/4 C. Water
2 Tbsp. Flour
3/4 C. Half and Half
1/4 C. Sour Cream
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/8 tsp. Basil Leaves
3/4 C. Mild Asiago Cheese ( finely grated)

Directions
Prepare pasta according to package directions. Wash and drain chicken strips. Mix breadcrumbs, flour, and Parmesan cheese together. Place milk in dish for dipping. Dip chicken in breadcrumb mixture and then in milk and then back in breadcrumbs. Place in fry pan that the oil has bee heated and fry at medium to medium low temperature until golden. Remove and drain chicken. In a saucepan on medium heat, melt butter, add olive oil. Whisk in flour until mixture is blended. Quickly add garlic, water, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt stir well. Add wine and blend. Immediately add half and half and sour cream stir. When mixture is smooth add grated cheese stir until melted. Finally sprinkle fresh basil in the sauce and stir lightly and remove from heat.

*Tip: I make my own mixture of breadcrumbs for this, and other recipes.  I use an almost stale bagette and break it up into small sizes and toss it into the Magic Bullet.  Along with the breadcrumbs, I throw some grated parm, garlic powder, a sprinkle of paprika, and a sprinkle of parsley.

Garnish
4 Broccoli Florets (lightly steamed)
2 White Mushrooms (quartered lightly steamed)
1/4 tsp. Crushed Red Pepper

Ta Da!
Place 2 cups pasta in individual a pasta dish. Spoon about 1/2 – 3/4 cup sauce over pasta, add broccoli and mushrooms. Place Parmesan Chicken on pasta and sprinkle red crushed pepper and add grated Parmesan cheese if desired.

Tomato Sauce

You can, without a doubt, use pureed or crushed tomatoes as I did in this recipe. Reduce the cook time to 35 minutes and don’t worry about crushing the tomatoes against the side of the pot.


Ingredients
28 oz canned whole peeled tomatoes
5 tbsp unsalted butter
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and halved
Salt to taste

Directions
Put the tomatoes, onion and butter in a heavy saucepan (it fit just right in a 3-quart) over medium heat. Bring the sauce to a simmer then lower the heat to keep the sauce at a slow, steady simmer for about 45 minutes, or until droplets of fat float free of the tomatoes. Stir occasionally, crushing the tomatoes against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon. Remove from heat, discard the onion, add salt to taste.  I actually chopped up some of the onions and left them in the sauce.

Serve with spaghetti, with or without grated Parmesan cheese.