Help I got a lot of mixed answers on this recipe!

Question

So I am making this: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler...

tomorrow night for a few friends that are coming. But the recipe is a little bit confusing to me so I need some help from you wonderful cooks.

1) The recipe calls for 4 b*****s, but I bought 6 since there will be 4 of us, 2 of which are hungry men. Do I really need to adjust the recipe or can I get by on making just 2 extra b*****s with the same recipe? It seems like it makes a lot of sauce anyway.

2) "Add the olives and some hand-torn basil, reserve the rest of the basil for finishing the chicken."

Do I literally rip off a few basil leaves and put them in whole in the sauce?

3)"Put the flour in a shallow platter and season with a fair amount of salt and pepper; mix with a fork to distribute evenly."

What's a fair amount of seasoning? He says this for the bread crumbs too, but I don't want to overseason anything and make it super salty. Say like a tablespoon of salt and pepper for the flour and the bread crumbs? Is that enough?

And Finally :)

4)"Ladle the tomato-olive sauce over the chicken and arrange the mozzarella on top. Sprinkle with Parmesan, and remaining basil. "

Again, do I chop the basil or leave it whole?

I'm sure this is amateur and a stupid question for a lot of you, but I really want to impress my boyfriend and his friend, so I don't want to s***w anything up! Thankssssss!

Answer 1

1 yes use more there is plenty of sauce.

2 you can cut them with a knife if you would like to. It's in a tomato sauce -- the delicacy is going to be lost anyway.

3 a tablespoon of salt would be way too much for 6 b*****s. A teaspoon would be sufficient. Remember, parmesan is very salty. Add enough pepper so that you can see it but it's not solid -- maybe a bit more than a teaspoon. This is one of those things you need to learn to eyeball.

4 in this case I would leave it in torn pieces for garnish effect.

They seem a bit shy on the olive oil. Unless you have a non stick pan, I would try it with the measure in the recipe, but don't be afraid to add more if it looks as if it is not coating the bottom of the pan.

p.s. good luck.

Answer 2

this is only my opinion...but i have been cooking a while

i would use angel hair pasta instead of spegetti

1) butterfly open your chicken breast for more even cooking...and  you should have plenty of sauce

2) yes, hand tear the basil...if you cut it with a knife, it will bruise the tender herb

3) i would put about 3-4 "shakes" of salt...as much pepper as you like...and two "palm-fulls" of breadcrumbs  (about a 3-1 ratio of flour to breadcrumbs...ex...1 cup of flour to 1/3 cup breadcrumbs)

4) tear basil

be sure to use fresh mozzarella..not the packaged and shredded stuff...it makes a huge difference

good luck to you!

Answer 3

As to increasing recipe I would if the men are big eaters you might want to increase the pasta as well.  Leftovers are never a bad thing.

Tearing basil he means tear up the leaves into small pieces, cutting is thought to bruise the leaves but it is not wrong to do.  Though I must tell you tearing basil perfumes the air.

Do not use more then a teaspoon of salt in either as you are using parm cheese and it is very salty as well.  

The most important thing is to have fun cooking the meal that will make it taste better then anything else you do.  You will do great :)

Answer 4

Actually one of my favorite website is a website that you tell what ingredients you have in your pantry and it tells you what you can make and how much of the ingredients you already have and what you need.

It is a neat website: www.recipematcher.com

They just made a facebook like 4hrs check it out.

http://www.facebook.com/reqs.php#/pages/...

Answer 5

How nice of you to want to make this for them. I'll answer your questions, and provide you a few options along the way to modify the recipe, if you like.

1)The sauce can be stretched, but that's the yang with the yin in this dish. Don't skimp on the sauce,  because it's great to have plenty of it to smother the chicken and pasta. And guys like sauce. When I make eggplant Parmesean this way, I put it on a bed of angel hair pasta so its light and delicate. Doubling the sauce would be fantasmagoric!

**Addition** Chunky tomatoes are one option here, if you like chunky. If you like a smooth sauce, you can use that in place of the tomatoes, which take time to cook down. You can pick any sauce of your liking, Newman's, Ragu, Hunts. A couple of bottles or cans will provide a decent amount of sauce.

2)Yep, just rip the leaves with your hands for a rustic appearance. Very Tyler that is. And a half a bundle is plenty for this recipe, if you use the tomatoes or use the sauce. If you double the sauce, add extra olives, too. They're great.

3)No, don't put a tablespoon of s&p in the flour, just enough to taste, like 6 or 7 shakes from the s&p shakers. Just enough to transform the blandness in the flour.

4)Again, stay with the rustic theme and hand shread. If you have extra whole pieces for a garnish, that would look great on the plate, too.

**Addition** You can also buy a package of sliced mozzerella, or have some sliced at the deli. Cheese is hard to slice at home, so make it easy on yourself.

If you drink wine, a nice Cabernet Sauvignon, or Ecco Domani's Cabernet-Merlot blend would be great. If you would like something sweeter to compliment the basil and temper the crushed red pepper, a bottle of Marika Nemes Kadarka, or some sparkling Lambrusco would be fun.

And that's it. Enjoy and have fun!

PS: link worked fine for me.

Answer 6

No question is stupid, especially when you're trying to impress your boyfriend!  And, this website wouldn't exist without questions, so keep on asking,us cooks love to help!  Although I did try and access your recipe site, it wouldn't go through, so I'll try and answer you concerns the best I can without seeing the full recipe.

1.  You'll be fine with 6 b*****s instead of 4 with the sauce.

2.  Yes, rip off the smaller leaves of your basil sprigs and throw it right into the sauce.

3.  I think the same as you with the salt, a little goes a long way and over salting your dish can be a nightmare to fix, so I would suggest going with a Teaspoon or less, remember, you can always add more, but taking it away is quite the chore!

4.  For the finishing touch of fresh basil, I would use the larger leaves of your Sprig, lay them all together in the same direction, then roll them up, tip to stem, then turn these sideways and do a small slice (chiffonade cut) to garnish your dish.  It looks fabulous and tastes great when they are cut in this thinly, rag style cut.

Again, without seeing the original recipe, I hope my answers helps you to make a most fabulous dish for your boyfriend! Happy cooking to you and Kudo's for taking on such a project, he must be pretty special!        

Answer 7

1.  You should be okay using 6.  Watch your breading though.

2.  Take the basil leaves off the stem and then tear each leaf into pieces and then put them in the sauce. Tyler always goes for the rustic look so the pieces shouldn't be tiny.

3.  A In general, for each 1 cup of flour, use 1/2 tsp. of salt and 1/4 to 1/2 tsp. of black pepper.  So use 1/4 tsp. of salt.  You can always taste the flour to see if it's ok.  Wet the tip of your finger, dip it in, and taste it.  I would use the same amount of pepper.  Make sure your breadcrumbs are plain before adding any salt.  I would stick with 1/4 tsp. of salt. and pepper for the breadcrumbs too.  Again you can always taste it and adjust as necessary before you start dipping your chicken in it.   Also, unless you are using low or no salt tomatoes, you will be getting additional sodium there.  Plus the cheeses will have their own level of saltiness.  So keep that in mind.  

4.  Chop or tear the basil.  However, chopping bruises the leaves and they lose their bright green color and look black.  So I would tear them as mentioned above.