Chicken Piccata

I wasn't originally intending on making anything special for dinner tonight.  My plan was to go for a nice long run.  But I had two things working against me.  1) I junked up my knee.  My Dad's side is notorious for having knee problems and that seems to be something I've inherited.  (Oh goodie!)  I've been running more than usual as of late and have been making sure to stretch really well before and after.  But my knees have been bothering me, especially the left one.  It was even uncomfortable to sit at work today.  I've been nursing Advil and laying off the exercise the last couple of days.  I hope to be back to normal soon.  2) Pouring rain and lightening.

I had dry cleaning to pick up anyway and J is working late to bring home that bacon, so why not make a nice dinner for us?  Am I just the best wife ever or what?  + I wanted to use the cookbook my parents got me for my birthday.

Chicken Piccata it is!

THE MISSION: America's Test Kitchen's Chicken Piccata

THE INGREDIENTS: 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, 8 thin chicken breast cutlets (4 ounces each), 4 tablespoons vegetable oil, 1 minced shallot, 1 minced garlic clove, 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth, 1/2 large lemon sliced into 1/4-inch thick half-moons, 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (from 1.5 lemons), 2 tablespoons rinsed capers, 3 tablespoons of chilled and unsalted butter cut into 3 pieces, 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley.

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 200 degrees.  Spread the flour in a shallow dish.  Pat the cutlets dry with a paper towel, then season with S&P.  Dredge through the flour to coat and shake off any excess.  


A note about chicken cutlets.  Cutlets are thin slices of chicken breast.  Some stores will sell them, but not all.  An easy solution is to buy normal chicken breast and slice them in half through the middle.  Then cover the cut up chicken with plastic wrap and pound it to the desired thickness.

Bam, bam, thank you ma'am.  Below is a normal chicken breast in the front and the correct thickness of a cutlet in the back.  

The beauty of a chicken cutlet is that it cooks completely through in just a couple of minutes.  And by quickly frying it up on the stovetop, it holds in all of its juices.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking.  Add half the cutlets and cook until light golden brown on both sides, about 4 minutes.  Transfer to a plate and keep warm in the oven.  Repeat with the remaining oil and cutlets.  

I've cooked chicken this way on the stovetop many, many times but today was the first time I've done it correctly.  I was reading through this cookbook and found out there are actually 3 types of oil when it comes to cooking things on your range: cold, shimmering, and smoking.  You want your oil just smoking (literally, smoke coming off the oil) over medium-high heat before you add the chicken cutlets.  Otherwise, your chicken in sitting in cold oil, doing nothing but soaking it up and getting soggy.  With the oil at an appropriate temperature, the chicken is crispy and cooks through quickly and thoroughly - and it isn't the slightest bit oily.  And you know what?  This was the first time I've ever fried the chicken in oil on the range and didn't think that it was greasy.  I've always added the meat before the oil was hot enough.  It does take time to heat up - especially on our electric range - but it's totally worth it.  Be patient.    

Add the shallot and garlic to the oil left in the skillet and cook over medium heat until softened, about 2 minutes.  Stir in the broth and lemon slices, scraping up any brown bits, and simmer until reduced and slightly syrupy, about 8 minutes.  

I love the little half-moon shapes of the lemons.  They remind me of Japanese fans.  

Stir in the lemon juice, capers, and any accumulated chicken juice.  Turn the heat to low and whisk in the butter, one piece at a time. 

 

Off the heat, stir in the parsley and season with S&P to taste.  

Can't you see all the buttery goodness?  

Spoon the sauce over the chicken before serving.  

MISSION COMPLETE: 

As you can see, I did up some roasted potatoes to have with the chicken, too.  Very easy: cut up some potatoes, mix with S&P and a couple tablespoons of good olive oil and roast at 450 degrees for 30 or 45 minutes (depending on how much potato you use).  I also threw in some of that fresh parsley, too.  My favorite is adding rosemary to roasted potatoes.  Easy peasy lemon squeezy.  

DEBRIEFING: Boy, was this tasty.  There was a little blurb in the cookbook by the authors about going through many versions, trying to get the lemon taste to come through.  And it really did.  The mixture of cooking the lemon slices with the chicken broth and then adding fresh squeezed lemon juice gave every bite the perfect lemon taste.  Not too overpowering and not too faint.  

I also decided that I don't like capers.  The flavoring in the sauce was good but I took a bite of one of the capers and it alone is no good.  It has a very strong, peculiar flavor.  

Bottom line: try this recipe.  And splurge when you do it.  Serve it over pasta.  Yeeeaaaahhhh boy!  

Top Chef Just Desserts starts next week!  Eeeeeee!  

Tomorrow's only Wednesday?  Are you serious?!  

Our company picnic is Thursday so another post is on its way, once I decide what I'm making.  

Rain, rain go away.  

Cheers!

Rachel