Cooking Pixie

After a week of eating Black Bean Soup (will post recipe later) and lasagna (same here), J and I were craving meat. Our typical cravings of burgers and tasty restaurant delights had to be placed on the back burner as we are really trying to get into shape, eat healthier, cook at home, and save money (boy do those student loans pile nice and high).

It seems as though everytime I try a new recipe, it is either very time intensive, requires tons of new produce, or ends up not being the style of food J and I like. The two of us are picky as hell — the plate either gets cleaned up real nice or there are large chunks of food put in tupperware, never to be opened until the next refrigerator cleaning. Lately, I seem to have found recipes that fit this delicate balance in a slightly odd and very typical place — Giada’s Food Network recipes. I’m not sure why, but everytime I prepare one of her meals, we both scrape our plates clean. So here I’ve pasted in Giada’s Chicken Piccata recipe which we found delicious. J rated it a 9/10 meaning almost perfect — high praise =) I also found it super fun to butterfly a chicken (this was the first time I’ve tried that). I’ll upload a picture of the one I made once I get home and can upload my pictures. Went deliciously with a bottle of simple chardonnay (table wine quality) and a lightly dressed arugula salad fresh from the farmers market. I left the sauce on the side in case it would ruin the chicken ( see Ina’s Sole recipe which I will talk about later for a case of sauce ruination). In this case, the sauce was delish. I made a second round of chicken (basically two breasts total) and that second round made even better sauce as the pan had all the tasty bits browning in it.

I’ve added any personal notes to her recipe (pasted below, taken from the Food Network site) in a tasteful lilac color =P

Ingredients

• 2 skinless and boneless chicken breasts, butterflied and then cut in half
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• All-purpose flour, for dredging
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter  <– I used this amount, but honestly you could go with less. Next time I think I will use 4 tbspn because it did have a very buttery flavor, so maybe less will be just as tasty
• 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil <– Yay for local first batch olive oil from california. Tasty, green, and sparkly
• 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice  <– about 1 lemon
• 1/2 cup chicken stock  <– I used water because I hate the taste of canned chicken stock and it was delish. prob. healthier too
• 1/4 cup brined capers, rinsed
• 1/3 cup fresh parsley, chopped <– I used less, parsley is a bit too much if you don’t chop it finely, IMO

There is a video of Giada making the recipe on the same site as the recipe itself. Follow the link above and click the video tab.

Directions

Season chicken with salt and pepper. Dredge chicken in flour and shake off excess.

In a large skillet over medium high heat, melt 2 tablespoons of butter with 3 tablespoons olive oil. When butter and oil start to sizzle, add 2 pieces of chicken and cook for 3 minutes. When chicken is browned, flip and cook other side for 3 minutes. Remove and transfer to plate. Melt 2 more tablespoons butter and add another 2 tablespoons olive oil. When butter and oil start to sizzle, add the other 2 pieces of chicken and brown both sides in same manner. Remove pan from heat and add chicken to the plate.

Into the pan add the lemon juice, stock and capers. Return to stove and bring to boil, scraping up brown bits from the pan for extra flavor. Check for seasoning. Return all the chicken to the pan and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove chicken to platter. Add remaining 2 tablespoons butter to sauce and whisk vigorously. Pour sauce over chicken and garnish with parsley.

I am definitely making this again. I’d feed this to guests, I have it for dinner, I’d eat it all the time. Wonder how it tastes as a leftover though, may be a while before I get the opportunity to find out as we really know how to clean up a plate of Giada’s Chicken Piccata. =)