National Men Cook Dinner Day Means That I Ate Very Well Indeed

Did you know that yesterday was National Men Cook Dinner Day? Yes, it’s true. All across the land, men cooked dinner for their wives. Really. All of them. I’m sure of it.

If you read Elastic Waist then you already know how well Weetabix ate last night. Until I get an invite over to enjoy some of Esteban’s cooking, I’ll just have to take her word for it. Weet? Call me k?

I too can brag that my husband has several dishes that he does particularly well. My personal fave is his Chicken Parmigiana.

Seriously, it’s the best I have ever eaten in my entire life. Yes, I know that I am biased but OMG it is so seriously delicious that I don’t let him cook it for my single girlfriends when they come visit. I mean it - back off bitch I saw him first.

What does he do to make this amazing meal? I’ve stood by his side assisting and I can tell you that it’s nothing different from what anyone else would do, but I do think that there is something to say for the details. He begins with fresh ingredients and he hovers over those cutlets through each step until they are absolute perfection. I’ll give you the step-by-step directions but honestly, I believe in my heart that the ingredient that he adds, the one thing that makes his Chicken Parm the bestest ever of all time is the one thing that I adore about him the most - his love.

Step 1. He buys boneless, skinless chicken breast and slices the cutlet thin. Then he pounds the cutlet even thinner.

Step 2. He dips in egg, let’s excess drip off, and then dips in breadcrumbs. He uses 4 Seasons Bread Crumbs. We’ve used other brands and keep coming back to 4 Seasons. It’s fresh and has loads of herbs so it’s very flavorful.

Step 3. He places breaded cutlet in a frying pan with about 3 inches of vegetable or canola oil and he watches it carefully. As soon as a cutlet starts to brown, he flips it over. And as soon as the other side is brown he gets it out of the oil and onto a plate with paper towels to cool, allowing excess oil to be absorbed.

Step 4. While the frying is happening, he preheats the oven to 400 degrees. The breaded cutlets go into another frying pan and he covers each with a liberal amount of marinara (either some that I’ve made or in a pinch - Prego), and thick slices of mozzarella.

Step 5. Because he gets the cutlets out of the oil as soon as they are brown and then out of the oven as soon as the cheese melts, nothing is overcooked.

The result is a melt-in-your-mouth ohmygodthisisamazing chicken-sauce-cheese-breading piece of heaven. My husband seriously makes the most tender, scrumptious, delicate chicken parmigiana on the planet. Lucky me!