squeeeb

this is an old skool dish, not made so much anymore (i don't think) but it's tasty and rather simple, so every once in a while i make it. i'm making it for dinner tonight.

get you some skinless chicken breasts (i broke down a chicken and removed the skin for frying into evil little snacks, rest of the chicken shall be used in other culinarily nefarious ways)

wrap breasts in plastic wrap and pound the crap outta them till they are thin.

salt, pepper, and paprika both sides of breasts, then dredge lightly in flour, shake off excess.

heat olive oil and butter in a big ol pan and sautee the breasts about 3 minutes a side, remove them from pan and set aside.

you now have a hot pan with a bunch of burnt bits all over it. good. add about 1/2 cup chicken stock (which you could have made with the carcass from the chicken you broke down), lemon juice from one fresh lemon, and if you want, capers. whisk around, and bring to simmer, simmer a few minutes. add a few TBS of butter to the liquid in the pan and whisk it into a thick creamy evil sauce that you smother the chicken in. taste sauce for seasonings before you add it to the chicken. it should be lemony and creamy and a bit peppery.

if you want, you can add the chicken back to the simmering liquid before you add the final butter, and simmer it a few minutes to reheat the chicken up.

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LordEden

Chicken piccata must have capers, it gives it the flavor that makes the meal good. Garlic too.

I probably have made this dish... a thousand times in my last two restaurants. Both had it on the menu, it was our "safety dish" (chicken, it's what everyone orders when they have no idea what they want).

I made my mine differently, but I was putting it out on the line about 20 or so times a night. I made Beurre Blanc sauce first and left it in a hot well. I did my chicken about the same way, except I put the spices into the flour then dredged it. Then in the end I heated up my capers in the pan then put the sauce over top of it with the capers.

I'd add some white wine to my chicken stock when I was reducing it, or better yet, deglaze the pan with white wine then add your chicken stock.

Great recipe squeeeb!

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squeeeb

thanks lord eden.

deglazing the pan with the white wine sounds like the way to go! i sometimes make my chicken stock with wine, sometimes not, just depends on if i have an open bottle.

i don't season the flour cause it seems the paprika just burns, and the flavors stick to the chicken better, but that's just what i think, i'm not sure if it's true or not.

haven't thought about doing the beurre blanc first, is that just to make it go a bit quicker, or is there another reason for it?

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LordEden

Whenever I make a pan sauce I always deglaze with some kind of alcohol, grabs all that flavor and tid-bits left over by the meat.

I was beat into certain habits in a kitchen, things that chefs were merciless about forcing me to do against my own habits. One of those were season the flour not the meat. Don't know what it does different, I just do it.

Quickness, beurre blanc was used for alot of things, just mixed to order with other ingredients to speed up the process of cooking.

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squeeeb

cool, thanks for the lesson.

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