Thursday, April 4, 2013

Lemon chicken piccata - Barefoot Contessa



Ingredients

* 2 split (1 whole) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
* Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
* 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
* 1 extra-large egg
* 1/2 tablespoon water
* 3/4 cup seasoned dry bread crumbs
* Good olive oil
* 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature, divided
* 1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons), lemon halves reserved
* 1/2 cup dry white wine
* Sliced lemon, for serving
* Chopped fresh parsley leaves, for serving

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

Place each chicken breast between 2 sheets of parchment paper or plastic wrap and pound out to 1/4-inch thick. Sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper.

Mix the flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper in a shallow plate. In a second plate, beat the egg and 1/2 tablespoon of water together. Place the bread crumbs on a third plate. Dip each chicken breast first in the flour, shake off the excess, and then dip in the egg and bread crumb mixtures.

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large saute pan over medium to medium-low heat. Add the chicken breasts and cook for 2 minutes on each side, until browned. Place them on the sheet pan and allow them to bake for 5 to 10 minutes while you make the sauce.

For the sauce, wipe out the saute pan with a dry paper towel. Over medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter and then add the lemon juice, wine, the reserved lemon halves, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Boil over high heat until reduced in half, about 2 minutes. Off the heat, add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and swirl to combine. Discard the lemon halves and serve 1 chicken breast on each plate. Spoon on the sauce and serve with a slice of lemon and a sprinkling of fresh parsley.

Brad bought me this cookbook for Christmas - Barefoot Contessa at Home. He bought it mainly because there was a recipe for mashed potatoes. So far, the mash potatoes I made came out horrible but this dish turned out very nice :)

I had the pasta cooking while I made the chicken and sauce. I would probably make more of the sauce or cook it at a lower temp because there was not a lot left over for the pasta. You could easily serve this over a salad as well.

I was surprised that I missed capers. Usually a piccata dish has capers in it and I usually don't eat them - I find them to be too salty and bitter. This dish, while delicious, needed something to balance out the lemon flavor. Next time I will probably add a touch of capers and continue my tradition of liking the flavor and not eating the actual capers :)