Recipe Wednesday: Chicken Parm on the Grill

A year and a half ago, you may recall that I posted a simple baked chicken parm recipe. We like our poultry here at the Farm, and probably have chicken twice a week along with pasta and sauce, steaks, fish, and pork chops. We never starve, even though I'm technically a starving artist. Take that as you will.

In that post, I mentioned that I've done chicken parm on the ol' grill, putting foil on the grate and letting Jen do up the fixings on the chicken; mainly tenderizing and dipping the chicken in beaten egg and coating it with bread crumbs. Seven minutes a side on high, and it's cooked through in a third of an hour.

About two weeks ago, I discovered a different way on Facebook (perhaps you've seen the video), and I decided to give it a try.

In a word, it's delish.

I started with two pieces of Pam-drenched foil before I cut and arranged summer squash slices; I would have used sliced zucchini, but I don't have any ready from the garden, and I used the zucchini I had bought on the Fourth of July with steak. I seasoned the squash with olive oil, salt, pepper, and a little Italian seasoning to give it a little kick.

After that, I opened my chicken breasts. We've been using the Purdue Perfect Portions lately, so I don't even have to tenderize or trim it. Place the chicken atop the squash, then apply salt and pepper.

Then you add your marinara on top of that.

You can use whatever sauce you want. If you want to use store bought sauce out of a jar, have at it. I prefer to make my own, as I have said before. I ladle the thick gravy onto the chicken, then top it with cheese. I didn't have any provolone on hand, so I just used shredded mozzarella. Then I wrap it all up and set it aside.

I'll then prep my pasta. On this particular day, I just used spaghetti, but I'm sure this will work with angel hair, penne, farfalle, or rigatoni. Your choice. I only made half a pound for the two of us, and that may have been too much. I salt my water to get it boiling faster.

While the water is heating up, I light the grill and wait five minutes to allow it time to heat up. Once ready, I turn the heat to its absolute lowest--you don't want to scorch the squash!--and toss the chicken parm packets on.

With this particular recipe, I don't flip the packets. I keep it on the squash side for 18-20 minutes, and in that time, the chicken will be cooked through. Remove from the heat and let it rest; those foil packets will be hot.

And obviously stir your pasta. Drain, and serve as close to immediately as you can. If you need to wait, drizzle olive oil over it and stir it in.

We added a little grated parmesan and romano cheese to ours, and tucked right in.

Jen loved it, so I have permission to make this again. I definitely will, and will use zucchini.

Bon appetit.

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