Chicken Parmesan (and Eggplant, and Beef)

My sister wanted me to post the recipe I made last week while in Arizona. I took leftovers with me to share with Kelli and Richard. I get a lot of my favorite recipe ideas these days from Cooks Illustrated. I stopped buying the magazines years ago and just wait for the end of the year - I have all of them from the beginning in hard-bound books and have a 15 year index. Their recipe has a home-made tomato sauce which I usually do, but with organic spagetti sauce so readily available, I'm using it more and more. (The eggplant and beef isn't a part of their recipe, it's just to show you other possibilities).

Have a bowl with beaten egg and pinch of salt, and
another bowl of 1C bread crumbs mixed with
1/2 tsp salt, and a pinch of pepper.
Typically parmesan cheese is mixed in with the bread crumbs, but I like how this recipe puts it on later and broils it. (I did the beef last night with the parmesan cheese in the bread crumbs. I pick up organic beef at my local store, regularly finding it 1/2 off and buying all that's there and freeze it. So last night's recipe used tenderloin steaks cut in bite size pieces, coated with the bread crumb cheese mixture and broiled a short bit till surface is crunchy - on a foil lined cookie sheet.)

2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
(I always cut it in thin pieces, sometimes pounding it flat)
Dip the chicken pieces in the egg and then the bread and put on a rack till all done.
Heat 1/4C olive oil over med-high heat in a skillet and brown chicken on both sides. Put them back on the cleaned rack over a cookie sheet
and top with 1/4C (1 oz) grated parmesan and 3/4C (3oz) grated mozzarella and
broil 4-5" from heat source till spotty browned.
Serve over cooked spaghetti with sauce.

I've done eggplant the same way too, but this time I browned both sides of 1/2" slices of eggplant brushed with olive oil under broiler, then sprinkled on the same grated cheeses and broiled again.

Last night's sauce was home-made from tomatoes that ripened from our garden. I had lots in a paper bag that were still green and most have turned red. I grew the Brandywine heirloom tomatoes this year. It's the first year I've gotten lots of brown bottomed tomatoes - don't know if that variety is prone to that or what?

I've often wanted to post about umamis and still am not. Just going to mention that it's a fifth taste, and that parmesan is an umami.