Spadea’s quick and delicious chicken parm & pasta

Sometimes the best food you can eat is the simplest food to prepare.

It all started with a simple sauce, as Chef Enzo and Chef Umberto called, "The Mother Sauce."

The four-ingredient Italian “mother sauce” you need to know

Here's how simple it is: start with whole peeled tomatoes, or crushed if you want to save even more time.

Then add fresh basil, which you break up by hand, or throw in whole if you use an immersion blender to mix it all together.

Then a little extra virgin olive oil and some sea salt.

That's it, four ingredients: tomatoes, basil, olive oil, and salt. Add the mix to a small saucepan and heat to a simmer on low heat.

A simple, healthy Italian meal you can make at home

In your air fryer or in the oven, roast boneless, skinless chicken thighs.

Once the chicken is cooked through, 20-30 minutes at 350 degrees, add a little sauce and fresh mozzarella. Back in for a few minutes to melt the cheese.

Top with fresh basil.

As far as the pasta, I picked angel hair and cooked it with salted boiling water for about 5 minutes, in a bowl, with mozzarella and butter.

Add in some of the heated sauce from the pan and put in the angel hair.

Give it a good mix to melt the cheese and butter, top with basil and you have one of the quickest, simplest, healthy and most delicious Italian meals you can get at home.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Spadea. Any opinions expressed are Bill's own.

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