I rarely buy chicken since moving to the great state of Florida. I have NO idea WHAT they’re feeding them, but I’m thinking it’s gold plated because I cannot account for the price being DOUBLE what I was paying up North. True story. In NY I was buying chickens for $.99/ lb. The least expensive here that I found was $1.69, but usually closer to $1.99/ lb. I have no words, no explanation and it kills me to fork over that much money.
Wait. Boneless chicken breasts in NY would go on sale, very often @ $1.99/lb., regular price about $3.99/ lb. We always waited for the sale. Here? I have only seen $1.99 boneless chicken breast twice. (because i no longer look at them) Their free range chicken (boneless) I've seen at $5.99/lb, to a staggering $8.99/ lb. Hey, Love you, Mr. George (founder of the big supermarket chain down south), and I know you only stock the BEST-BUT... $9 a pound for chicken ANYTHING???!! Wait! wings? Back in the '60's they used to give them away. Here? They're $4.99/lb.
Get the picture? I hate buying chicken since I moved to Florida. However, I came across one of those extremely rare weeks of boneless chicken breasts on sale for $2.39/ lb.! That is only $.40 /lb. more than I paid 5 years ago. I'll write that off as inflation and pay that extra $.40.
So, I got some boneless chicken breasts. Last night I made French Onion chicken, another recipe I highly recommend AND will blog about sometime in the future. I had stumbled upon a recipe for chicken piccata on Sunday. Lemon...mmm. Yeah, chicken piccata went right on the "TO DO" list. And do it, I did. OMG! where did I learn English? (Let's write that off as too long away from the blog and expressing myself on topics I choose, as opposed to my last several years. Let's just leave it there; suffice it to say, I now have time to do "ME". I'll brush up on my English usage and sentence structure (which, as you can tell, is all over the place.) You know what? I don't give a HOOT. (Inside joke, there.) This is how I think, this is how I talk. If only all my talking (to other people) had the benefit of backspace, delete and edit. That would be awesome, but reading this you can tell what's going on in my brain (here's your hint.) You can't tell me that you don't have a conversation (in your head) with yourself while you're interacting with other people. Whether thinking about the drive home, the battle you're gonna have with one of your sons about a "party", saying a silent prayer you're not about to get bad news, I let you see where my brain veered off to. (OOPs!)
Chicken piccata. The words alone bring a smile to my face. Chicken Piccata is Italian, and that's where I first had this. In Rome; I was 17, on a school trip to Rome and Florence (with a side excursion to Pompeii, Capri, and Naples for dinner.) I could talk about that trip forever, because it forever changed my life, but that story doesn't belong here, but it does on my other blog, the one about living a graceful life, so I'll leave that stuff to that blog. We went for 13 days/14 nights (or the other way around) with 2 meals a day, tours, a guide, Anieck. For a while after that trip I wanted to be a guide in Italy, but, well, you know...life.
Anyway, being in Italy everyone was expecting tomato/pasta heavy foods: ravioli, lasagna, spaghetti and meatballs, Manicotti- you get the picture, but that is not what was for dinner. It was my introduction to Mediterranean food. Oh, man! We go to the table (complete with cloth tablecloths and napkins- although this is ITALY, no take-out; no to-go; and no ice! Yikes!). We’re NOT being served tomato sauce and pasta and cheese. And there it was! chicken piccata sitting on my plate. Served with a rice pilaf, mixed green salad and asparagus. Lemon slices, with the fresh lemon aroma wafting up into your nostrils. Okay, stop.
And that is what I attempted, and, well, yes, nailed!
As my head is still not completely back to thinking straight, I kept losing the recipe I had found that was exquisitely simple. But I remembered SOME of the ingredients. This happened a total of 3 times. Something in Ina Garten's version caught my eye. Then a recipe off the Food Network intrigued me, and finally I found the original one that I wanted to try.
Well, I liked different parts of each. So I took out the parts I thought would work really well and the result?
No word of lie: FABULOUS!
I was cooking only for myself so I used only 1/2 chicken breast (boneless) "which I slice down and "fileted" I got 2 nice size cutlets and 2 "fingers" or maybe nuggets. (Pound them between wax paper to 1/4 inch thick- YES you must flatten the cutlets- tenderizes them- skip it and you might have chewy chicken which is NG in my book.)
Here's the ingredients:
- the prepared boneless chicken as described above
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
- 1/3 cup fine bread crumbs seasoned
- black pepper - 5 or 6 twists
- 1 egg beaten w/1 T water
- 1/8 t hot sauce
- 2T avocado or grapeseed (or vegetable oil)
- 2 T butter
- 1/4 cup very dry white wine
- juice of 1 lemon (i had just under 1/4 cup) use the nuke and tongs method
- remainder of 2 lemon halves
- 1/2 cup reduced sodium chicken stock or broth
- 1 T capers, rinsed and drained
- fresh parsley, chopped
- sliced lemons for garnish
Mix the flour, parmesan, bread crumbs, black pepper in a shallow bowl or dish.
In a separate dish beat egg, hot sauce & water.
pat chicken dry, dredge in the flour mixture, into the egg mix and back into the flour mixture. Set aside on a rack to dry while you coat the rest of the chicken.
Heat oil in sauté pan. Brown chicken for 3-5 min each side until juices run clear. Drain on paper towel set aside but keep warm. Finish all the chicken.
Wipe out pan. Add butter to same pan. When it melts and starts to boil add the wine, then the lemon juice, the half lemons, then the stock. Bring back to boil and simmer until reduce by 1/3 - remove the lemon halves and discard. Toss in the capers. Stir and remove from heat.
Plate chicken, drizzling sauce over, place lemon slices, twisted and sprinkle w/fresh chopped parsley. Serve with buttered noodles, rice pilaf (or rice), green beans, broccoli or asparagus. The lemon sauce goes nicely on the vegetables, too.
Mind you, there is not a lot of sauce, so if you're thinking of drowning your chicken and/or veggies, you need to at least double, if not, triple the recipe.
Word of advice: do not use jarred lemon juice- just does not cut it.
I want more.
Admittedly I forgot the parsley on top.
Oye! Am I out of practice! Not a question.
So I put the rest of the chicken in the freezer in each their own little bag. I need only one breast per meal, so I got a few more meals. Of course my signature dish, chicken cutlets w/Swiss cheese sauce is a definite maybe! And I will blog about the French Onion chicken, too, That, too was good! And easy.
Maybe I should just post the recipes and shut up. Nah!
Until next time: enjoy! Mangia!
~Aunt Barbara aka No-No. (Nonna)
