I need some help interpreting a recipe. Help!

Question

So I am making this: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/chicken-parmigiana-recipe/index.html

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

absolutely tear that basil apart (or chop)--or you will have a strong basil taste--you can get away with adding 2 more chicken b*****s--just add alittle more seasoning...a fair amount of seasoning is a couple tablespoons usually--you can always add more later if you taste it and it's not enough..good luck!! I'm sure you'll be fine~

Answer 2

1.  You should have enough sauce... you may need a bit more flour/spices to coat the b*****s, though.

2.  Tear basil leaves off stem, sort of stack them together, and tear by hand, then sprinkle on top... no need to chop on a cutting board.

3.  Fair amount:  you want to be able to see the pepper in the flour, and have at least as much salt in there, too.  Or, if you like, season chicken w/ S&P, then dredge in plain flour.  That way you KNOW the hcicken is seasoned!

4.  I'd save the rest of the basil for when you pull the dish out of the oven and are bringing it to the table... THEN garnish w/ sprigs of fresh basil.  (Basil turns black when heated, so you don't want it going into the oven on top of something pretty.)

Answer 3

You tear the leaves into pieces and try a teaspoon of salt and pepper

Answer 4

not to second guess any one, i would on the frist time making a recipe go just by what the directions call for. if not you might just end up with the whole recipe going south, don't take a chance the frist time, would use the two extra chicken breast, and make some good chicken salad. good luck and keep on learning, bacondebaker.

Answer 5

3) 1 ts salt & 1/2 ts pepper

Answer 6

1. You should be fine with 6 b*****s.

2. Rip the basil from the stems and tear the leaves into pieces.

3. I would use a teaspoon each of the salt and pepper.

4. Again, tear the leaves into small pieces.

Hey , if you never cooked much before there's no such thing as a stupid question. Putting the link to the recipe made it easier to answer you question too.

Answer 7

1) It has been my experience that Tyler Florence makes way too much sauce for his dishes, in fact every one that I have made. You will be fine on the larger quanity of chicken breast.

2) Hand tearing the basil will achieve a coarse or rough chop, meaing that it will create larger piece giving more flavor when you get a piece of basil. If you feel more comfortable of course you can cut it instead, just do so in large pieces.

3) Fair amount of salt and pepper would be enough to coat a thin even layer on the chicken. Since you are doing this for several breast I would say about 10 shakes of your shakers, this would amount to almost 2 shakes per breast. Remember your guest can always add more salt and pepper but can't take away.

4) For the last of the basil, you could either leave it whole and use as garnish or chop it up to give more flavor. Leaving it whole will give a nice presentation and you guest can cut it up if they wish.

Good Luck

Answer 8

Not a stupid question at all.  Those recipes from food networks make everything so much more complicated than it need be.  First of all there will be plenty of sauce even if you add 2 more chicken b*****s.  Secondly you could even use a couple of jars of premade sauce (like tomato/basil flavour) instead of going to the trouble of making the sauce from scratch.  If you do the sauce from scratch yes it is chopped or torn basil both times but you could also replace it with dry basil in the jar from the spice food aisle (however, the fresh chopped is better).  Since you are new to cooking try and keep this as simple and easy for you as possible so you don't get all stressed out.