Lemon Chicken Piccata

Tonight I made one of our favourites: Lemon Chicken Piccata. It's not a very complicated dish, but it does require a little more effort than some of my other dishes, which is why I usually like to save this dish for my days off.

If I remember correctly, I think this was the first main dish I made after my husband and I returned from our honeymoon; boy am I glad this one worked out the first time. Although, I may have set the bar a little high for myself, because I now feel like those real simple dinners like chicken nuggets or hot dogs don't really qualify as dinner. There have certainly been times when I have been stuck on dinner ideas and my husband has to remind me that fish sticks and french fries are great too. Today however, was my day off. So I took advantage of my time and made something I knew would make my husband smile, no matter what kind of day he had.

Lemon Chicken Piccata
Time: 50 minutes
Makes: 4 servings

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/lemon-chicken-piccata/


Ingredients

• 3 large skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into bite size pieces
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 Tbsp olive oil, or as needed
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 1 lemon, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 4 Tbsp capers, drained and rinsed
• 6 Tbsp butter
• 4 Tbsp minced parsley 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200° F. Place serving platter into the oven to warm.
2. Season chicken breast pieces with salt and pepper to taste and dredge them in flour. Shake off excess flour. Heat the olive oil in a deep skillet; pan-fry chicken pieces until golden brown on both sides, about 3 minutes per side. Work in batches and do not crowd skillet, adding oil as needed. Place chicken pieces onto warmed platter in the oven. When finished with all the chicken, drain most of the oil from the skillet, leaving a thin coating on the surface of the pan.
3. Cook and stir minced garlic in skillet until fragrant, about 20 seconds. Pour in chicken broth. Scrape and dissolve any brown bits from the bottom of the skillet. Stir in lemon slices and bring the mixture to a boil. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce reduces to about 2/3 cup, about 5 to 8 minutes. Add lemon juice and capers; simmer until the sauce is reduced and slightly thickened, about 5 minutes more. Drop butter into the skillet and swirl it into the sauce by tilting the skillet until the butter is melted and incorporated. Add the parsley, remove from heat and serve over chicken pieces and rice.

Since we usually enjoy this over rice I double the recipe for the sauce, because the rice tends to absorb much of it. The recipe above is the doubled recipe, so if you decide to serve this dish over pasta, or simply as larger pieces of chicken I recommend halving the above recipe for the sauce. Please feel free to attempt, tweak, and enjoy my first official dish. 



Kage