Chicken Parmesan baked with tomato sauce

Peel the garlic. Split the chicken breasts into cutlets and flatten between sheets of baking paper to about 6 mm. Chop the garlic and mix with 360 ml buttermilk, the salt and 1 g pepper. Coat the chicken and refrigerate for 4 h at no more than 4 °C. Meanwhile, spread the bread in slices on a clean rack to dry.

Crack and beat the eggs with a fork, then weigh the listed amount without shells. Process the dried bread with 112 g Parmesan and 1 g pepper. Transfer to a plate and rub in 30 ml buttermilk with your fingers. The mixture should form small clumps when pressed. Mix the beaten eggs with 30 ml buttermilk and 8 g flour. Put the remaining 172 g flour on another plate.

Drain the chicken and discard the raw marinade. Coat each cutlet in flour, beaten egg and Parmesan breadcrumbs, pressing to adhere. Heat the oil to about 190 °C in a frying pan. Brown small batches for about 2 min per side and drain on a clean rack. Discard raw coating and egg leftovers.

Grate the mozzarella. Wash and dry the basil leaves. Preheat the oven to 220 °C and warm the tomato sauce. Spread 300 g sauce in the baking dish, arrange the cutlets and add the remaining 600 g sauce in a central strip, leaving the edges of the coating uncovered. Mix the mozzarella with 14 g Parmesan and spread along this strip. Bake for about 20 min until the cheese is melted and bubbling. Check the chicken reaches 75 °C for 30 s. Rest for 3 min, then add the remaining 14 g Parmesan and the basil.