Chicken Parmesan and Youker

Saturday night, we had my brother-in-law and his girlfriend over for dinner and wine. Usually these types of things end up being more "wine" than "dinner", and this time was no different. I actually forgot to take a picture of the actual food itself, but I did take pictures of the wine and our dinner guests.
I don't know if anyone has heard of the card game called Youker (and I'm not even sure that's how you spell it). Its like Spades except...different. We played girls against boys and we kicked some major butt. No surprise there.
I got the chicken parmesan recipe from Josie at Pink Parsley, and everyone loved it. I'm not sure whether that was the wine talking or if it was actually really good, but I'm going to go with the latter. I didn't end up putting pepperoni on ours, though, since the dish was already pretty rich and I was trying to be "healthy". Chicken parm and 4 bottles of wine is healthy, right? Right!

Chicken Parmesan with Pepperoni
Source: Pink Parsley, originally from Food and Wine

2 large eggs

1/4 cup milk

1/2 cup flour

2 cups panko

4 (8-ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, pounded 3/4-inch thick

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/3 cup canola oil

1 1/2 cups tomato sauce (recipe follows)

1/3 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

1 cup shredded mozzarella

2 ounces sliced pepperoni

Tomato Sauce

1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce

pinch red pepper flakes

3/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp dried oregano

kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.  In a small saucepan, combine the ingredients for the tomato sauce.  Simmer over medium-low heat as you prepare the chicken.

In a pie plate, beat the eggs with the milk.  In 2 more pie plates (or shallow dishes), spread the flour and panko.  Season the panko with salt and pepper.  Pat the chicken dry and season with salt and pepper.  Lightly dredge each chicken breast in the flour, followed by the egg, and finishing with the panko.  Press to help the crumbs adhere.

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat until shimmering.  Add the chicken and cook, turning once, until cooked through, about 7 minutes.  Drain the chicken on a paper towel-lined plate, then transfer to a lightly greased baking dish.

Top the chicken with the tomato sauce, cheeses, and pepperoni.  Bake the chicken for about 15 minutes, until the cheese is melted and bubbling.  Transfer the chicken to plates and serve.