Parma Parma Parma Chameleon

Episode: Gene It On (S4 E20)

Favorite Moment: The cheer off between Gene and Todd

Favorite Quote:

Linda: In fact, sometimes cheerleaders are not the nicest people. My friend Monica, one time ditched me at the food court to hang out with the other cheerleaders. I ate so many samples of sesame chicken that I can't eat it, to this day.

Bob: You had sesame chicken last night, Lin.

Linda: I know. But I hated it. Damn you Monica!

This episode is hilarious. Tina tries out for cheerleading, but fails spectacularly.

The judges hear Gene cheering on his sister (he called her Tina the Weena!) and offer him a spot on the squad instead. Tina goes home defeated, and unable to speak clearly because she has a swollen tongue from her cheerleading accident. Linda tries to comfort her until she sees that Gene is now a cheerleader and is able to live her dream of being a cheerleader through her son. She spends the rest of the episode doting on Gene and ignoring the girls.

Louise becomes Tina's interpreter, and hilariously says the opposite of everything that Tina would normally say. This lands a date with Jimmy Jr.

Louise crashes the date to translate at Pie in the Sky, a rotating restaurant that serves pie.

I also want to take a moment to appreciate Jocelyn in this episode... and really any episode. I forget how funny her character is. And Mr. Ambrose, whose flare for drama and discord I truly admire.

The Parma Parma Parma Chameleon is named after the song Karma Chameleon by Culture Club. To be honest I did not pick up on the reference. My wife thought it was hilarious... but I just didn't have a clue. Not unusual.

This burger is covered in fresh basil leaves, blueberry marinara sauce (more on that crazy ass idea later), and parmesan. This burger also was made with parmesan-crusted zucchini crisps.

You are supposed to get one green squash... and one yellow. But my dumb ass bought a yellow zucchini and a cucumber. I realized it as I was peeling it. I was so pissed. I had to go back the grocery store... only to find out all they had was yellow. Oh well.

After being peeled and sliced, the zucchini wheels are put into a 3 part mixture. This first part being flour mixed with oregano and thyme, the second part being eggs, and lastly the third mixture was panko crumbs and parmesan.

I set them out dry up a little before deep frying them. I ate like 15 of them while I was cooking. The little suckers were so addicting.

Next, I made the marinara. A combination of sautéed onions and garlic, crushed tomatoes and tomato paste... and last but not least a strange ingredient: blueberry juice.

I couldn't find just plain blueberry juice in any super market. So, I settled with a blend that was mostly blueberries, with a little blackberry and apple.

I guess Cole (creator of the recipes) got the idea from an Ina Garten recipe. She probably said something like "If you can't find blueberries that have been hand pressed by the fairy people in your 2 acre garden, then store bought juice is okay."

Here is me pouring the blueberry juice into the sauce hoping I don't accidentally open a portal to Hell.

The patties were mixed with garlic, and then topped with fresh basil leaves, and covered with the blueberry marinara and finally a dash of parmesan on top.

The blueberry flavor in the sauce was really nice. It gave it just a little bit of sweetness to counter act the spice of the basil and salt of the parmesan... and those zucchini chips... never thought I'd say this, but other vegetables are good fried. Like even the gross ones.