Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Chicken Piccatta with Lemon-Caper Sauce

Mornin'!  Well, you might say, "she's at it, again!"  I am.  I made some major adjustments to this recipe because it seemed like a lot going on.  I've marked my adjustments for 4 milanesa (thin cut) chicken breasts.  Adjustments aside, this was a tasty dish and I'm glad I discovered it.

Ingredients

  1. PICCATTA BATTER
  2. 6 eggs, whole  4 eggs
  3. 1/4 cup fresh parmesan cheese, grated ( I had Kraft three cheese mix, Asiago, Romano, & Parm)
  4. 1/4 cup fresh Romano cheese, grated
  5. 2 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped (or 2 tsp dry) I just tossed in a handful of fresh to the sauce and nixed it in the batter)
  6. 2 Tbsp fresh basil, chopped (or 2 tsp dry) (I skipped this altogether, well, because I forgot to add it in, but did add a pinch of sage and thyme)

  7. CHICKEN
  8. 4 ea 6oz. chicken breasts, boneless skinless, split
  9. 2 cups flour, seasoned with salt and black pepper  (I went with more like a cups worth...didn't measure exactly)
  10. Salt & black pepper to season the flour.
  11. 1/2 cup olive oil (or as needed), (I definitely followed the as needed as I thought 1/2 cup was excessive, ended up using about 2 tbsp. and added  2 tbsp. unsalted butter)

  12. LEMON SAGE SAUCE
  13. 1/4 cup shallots, finely chopped (forgot these, too.  Oops, not on my A-game)
  14. 1 Tbsp garlic, chopped (used 3 cloves)
  15. 2 Tbsp fresh sage, finely chopped (used 3/4 tsp. in the batter not in the sauce.  Whoops!)
  16. 2 Tbsp parsley, chopped (or 2 tsp dry)
  17. 1/4 cup lemon juice (juice of 2 lemons)
  18. 1 Tbsp lemon zest (zest of 2 lemons)
  19. 1/2 cup white wine (forgot this part...jeez, what's wrong w/me?)
  20. 1 cup heavy cream
  21. 6 Tbsp unsalted butter, cold  (scractched this since there was plenty of oil in the pan)
  22. Salt and pepper to taste (scratched this and added 3 tbsp. capers instead. salt from the caper berry was plenty)

Procedures


Pre-heat oven to 350ºF. 

PICCATTA BATTER
  1. COMBINE eggs, cheeses, parsley and basil together in a large mixing bowl.

CHICKEN
  1. POUND chicken breasts until ¼” thick ( bought thin cut breats so skipped this step).  Dredge chicken in the flour mixture and dip it in the Piccata batter; coat evenly on both sides.
  2. HEAT olive oil in a large skillet on medium heat. (I added garlic here to flavor the oil and sauteed for just a minute.  Place chicken in the skillet and fry until edges are golden brown on each side. Transfer chicken from skillet into a baking pan. ( I just cooked on in the skillet and it was fabulous).
  3. BAKE in a 350ºF oven for 5-6 minutes, until juices run clear. (seemed like an added step and a waste of time)

SAUCE
  1. DRAIN 3/4 of the oil from skillet and add the shallots, garlic and herbs. (By using less oil, I didn't have to drain any of it and was able to retain all the good crispy bits.  HELLO FLAVOR!  I added the garlic to the oil before I cooked the chicken so at this point all I added was the lemon juice and zest to deglaze the pan.  Then I added the cream.  The left over flour bits from the cooked chicken thickened the sauce like a roux, kinda.  Yum.  Saute over medium heat until shallots are transparent. Add lemon juice, lemon zest, white wine and reduce liquid by 1/2. Add heavy cream and simmer until the sauce has thickened slightly.  Dropped capers in at this time then poured it over the plated chicken.  We served the chicken on a bed of linguini in pesto.
  2. REMOVE pan from heat and whip in the cold butter. Season to taste with salt and pepper. (What are they talking about?)
SERVE
  1. POUR ¼ cup of sauce on plate and place chicken on top. (Well, that seemed somewhat backwards so I plated the chicken and poured sauce over it.  Serve immediately. (on a bed of pesto linguine if you're smart).

I know there are a lot of changes, and forgotten ingredients, but somehow this turned out sooooo good.  My husband loved the batter and sauce...said it's the best dinner I've made in a while.

1 comment:

Lynn said...

I still haven't tried this, but it always sounds good to me:@)