Chicken With Eggplant (Lidia Bastianich)

Saw Lidia preparing this dish but didn't listen to the amounts in the recipe. So, I placed a request in the Recipes Forum and 1Steve was kind enough to send me this link. It was posted in Flavor Junkie's October 4, 2006 blog.

• Ready In: 1 hr 20 mins
• Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 6  boneless skinless chicken breasts, pounded
• 2  medium eggplants
•  oil (for frying)
• 2  tablespoons butter
• 2  cups tomato sauce (preferably homemade)
• 1⁄2 cup  grated romano cheese
• 12  leaves fresh basil (we used parsley, we don't do basil)
•  italian seasoning, to taste
• 1⁄2 cup white wine
• 2  tablespoons butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400ºF degrees.
2. Trim the eggplants, and peel if you prefer. Lidia stripes them,
3. Slice on an angle, so that you have 12 good slices in all.
4. Dredge the eggplant in flour that has been seasoned with salt, pepper & Italian seasoning.
5. Heat a large skillet (preferably with a lid), add enough oil to coat the bottom, and fry the eggplant on medium-high heat until caramelized on both sides.
6. Set aside on paper towels to drain while you make the chicken.
7. Lightly pound the chicken breasts and dredge in the seasoned flour.
8. Reheat the same skillet on medium heat, add two tablespoons of oil and tablespoons of butter, swirling to mix.
9. Cook the chicken until caramelized on the one side.
10. You want the chicken to brown--but do not try to hasten the process by cooking it on high heat.
11. You want to do it over gentle heat so as not to toughen the meat.
12. Turn them over to caramelize on the other side, and top each breast with two slices of eggplant, then a spoonful of sauce, two basil leaves, and a good sprinkling of cheese, and as much Italian seasoning as you want.
13. Let cook for about two minutes, turn up the heat to medium-high, add the wine to the pan, then the remaining tomato sauce.
14. Shake the pan a bit to mix, add in the last two tablespoons of butter and shake again to mix.
15. Put the lid on the pan (if your pan does not have a lid, cover with foil that has been sprayed with cooking spray) and finish cooking in the oven--approx 20 minutes.
16. Remove from oven and serve with a flourish.
17. Try to use homemade tomato sauce, this is one of those dishes where you will be greatly rewarded for using the homemade sauce.
18. To cut down on the fat/calories, you can grill or roast the eggplant instead.
19. It is this final oven cooking that makes the chicken meltingly tender and the wine, tomato sauce and butter transform themselves into an incredible sauce.