Chicken Piccata

The series of posts Eat Out at Home continues with this recipe for Chicken Piccata, a dish readily found in most any Italian restaurant. Since I had a package of chicken cutlets to use I was torn between making Chicken Parmesan or Chicken Piccata. Somehow the Parmesan recipe seemed a little heavy and more suited to cold weather, so this one won out, since the light lemony sauce of this recipe seems to go with spring.

This recipe is quite simple to make and takes very little time. It requires only basic cooking skills, so even if you’re a newcomer in the kitchen, you will be successful. Preparing the chicken cutlets ahead of time is a time saver. You can pound them out and dredge in flour in advance, then refrigerate them till its time to cook the meal. Because cutlets are lean and cook in just a few minutes, they produce very little drippings to use in a sauce, so dredging in flour first, then cooking them will help them to brown and the flour acts as an emulsifier to slightly thicken the sauce. The addition of lemon, white wine, chicken broth and capers creates the classic piccata flavors. Knowing how to make this dish assures you of success when serving guests, since many people know about this entree, but are unaware of how easy it is to make.

A common way to serve chicken piccata is with pasta. Linguine is a good choice as it will get coated by the sauce. In my version I added some baby spinach to my nearly cooked pasta in the last minute of cooking, just so it got a little wilted . Drain the pasta/spinach combo, place in a large bowl or serving dish and place the chicken cutlets with their sauce poured over the top. Molto Delicioso!

Chicken with its sauce poured over pasta with spinach.

CHICKEN PICCATA

Makes 4 servings. Increase all quantities accordingly to make more servings.

Ingredients:

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in half length-wise and pounded into cutlets. (I was able to purchase a package of 4 chicken cutlets ready for use at the supermarket.)
salt and pepper
Chicken cutlets, white wine, lemon, garlic and capers produce the classic flavors of this dish.
all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 tsp. minced garlic
1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp. drained capers
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
fresh lemon slices
chopped fresh parsley for garnish

1. Season cutlets with salt and pepper, then dredge in flour. Add oil to a sauté pan and heat over medium-high heat.

2. Saute cutlets 2 – 3 minutes on one side. Turn cutlets oven and cook the other side, covered, 1 – 2 minutes. Transfer cutlets to a warmed platter and keep warm. Pour off any fat from the pan.