Chicken Piccata is basic Italian-American restaurant fare. It’s derived from the classic Italian dish, Veal Piccata, made with thin slices of meat that are dredged in flour and sautéed until golden; a lemon butter sauce of pan juices, capers, and parsley is spooned on top. To make the sauce, you set aside the browned meat and add wine or stock to the pan to deglaze it. The liquid loosens the flavorful brown bits that are left behind from the initial sauté, and the sauce is thickened with a knob of butter and flavored with a good squeeze of lemon. Yum!
It's also a really quick and easy meal for a fancy-ish weeknight supper.
You can buy thin chicken cutlets for this, but I prefer to make them myself. Too thin, and they’ll dry out before they brown. To make the cutlets yourself, slice boneless, skinless breasts horizontally (with the knife blade parallel to the board). If the cutlets are uneven, tuck them between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound the thicker portion lightly with a mallet or rolling pin.
A quick sauté in the skillet keeps the chicken from drying out. Once you've browned the cutlets, turn lemon slices in the hot skillet for a colorful garnish. The browned lemons are optional but, oh, they’re pretty! They also add some panache and extra lemon flavor, but you can skip that step if you are in a hurry.
Add shallots and anchovies to the pan for even more flavor, then the wine and chicken stock. Capers, lemon juice, parsley, and butter finish the dish and it's on the table, looking beautiful, in no time.
Cooking lesson alert ahead! It’ simple, it’s easy, and yes, there’s a little catch. Read on, curious people.
TWO THINGS
THING NUMBER ONE:
How do you cook chicken breasts so they’re not dry?
1) Cook them quickly
2) Make sure they are of a uniform thickness so they cook evenly
3) Play with the heat under the pan. It should not be so hot that it shrinks the proteins and pushes the moisture out of the cutlets, but not so cool that it overcooks them before they brown. I know, that’s not the greatest answer. Chicken cutlets have no fat. It’s a double-edged sword. You’ll have to experiment. Sorry.
4) Use a thermometer. The USDA recommends an internal temperature of 165 degrees for chicken. Still, when you leave the chicken to rest under foil, residual heat raises the temperature a few degrees. So, you could live dangerously if you like and take the cutlets out at around 160 degrees. The temperature that bacteria comes to die is 165 degrees but starts to be killed at around 149 degrees. Turn the cutlets in the pan sauce for a minute at the end if you’re nervous.
THING NUMBER TWO:
How do you make a pan sauce?
This recipe is a great introduction to making a pan sauce for any seared meat.
1) Sear the meat in a skillet over medium-high or high heat. You are going to capture all the flavor of the little brown bits at the bottom of the pan.
Don’t use non-stick if you can avoid it.
Do heat the pan before adding the oil. Why? Food scientist Harold McGee says, “The longer the oil spends in contact with the hot surface, especially metal, the more time it has to be broken down by the extreme conditions and exposure to oxygen. Overheated oil can turn "gummy" and even cause food to stick.” This advice does not apply to non-stick pans, which are intended to be heated with some fat in the pan as soon as it hits the heat.
2) Turn the heat to medium, pour off all but a thin layer of fat, and add the aromatics (shallots, herbs, spices, etc.) Cook them for a few minutes.
3) Deglaze the pan: Add liquid (wine or stock) to the pan and stir with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula to scrape up all the brown bits on the bottom.
4) Swirl in a knob of butter. The butter emulsifies, adds even more flavor, and creates a smooth, lightly creamy sauce.
Congratulations! You just completed your April cooking lesson. :) What did you think? I’m still experimenting here on Cooking Lessons. Did you like this? Or do you want less blah blah blah and more recipes? Inquiring minds want to know.
Have a great week, friends. Until next time…
XXOO
Sally