Breaded Chicken in a Butter Sauce? Yes, please.

My cooking choices have seemed like a solid downpayment on a future heart attack lately so I wanted to do something just a little lighter. When I came across a recipe for chicken piccata I thought to myself "Self, that's a little better" maybe not the healthiest thing in the world but definitely a recipe I wanted to try.

Chicken Piccata
 -2 boneless chicken breasts
-salt and pepper
-1/2 cup all purpose flour
-1 egg -1/2 Tbsp water
-3/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs
-olive oil
-3 Tbsp unsealed butter (divided - which is just a fancy way of saying split into 3 1 Tbsp chunks)
-1/3 cup lemon juice (2 lemons)
-1/2 cup dry white wine
-lemon slices and parsley in case you want to do some pretentious plating when you're done.


Ok so before you get started with anything else, preheat the oven to 400.  You want it up and ready when the time comes, so just make sure you take care of that first othewrwise you'll end up ruining everything.  That might be a slight exaggeration, but just do it, it doesn't take much.  Go ahead, I'll wait.

Now for one of my favorite parts, take the chicken breasts and cover them in parchment paper.  Find a fun little kitchen mallet and pound those suckers until they're about 1/4 inch thick.  If you were feeling bold you could do this without parchment paper, however you will then be finding little chicken chunklets all over your kitchen for the next few weeks.  Trust me, I tried it once.....Once.  (And if you know that reference we should be friends, its obscure and random I know)

When you've beat the crap out of the chicken (this is also good for stress management, let it all out) sprinkle both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper.

On one plate mix the flour, 1/2 tsp of salt and 1/4 tsp of pepper.  On another plate beat the egg and a 1/2 Tbsp of water together.  Then on a third plate (make sure you did dishes before you start, lest you run out of plates) spread out the breadcrumbs.  Or if you're my mother, you have enough plates to serve 4200 people simultaneously.

Then you want to dip the chicken first in the flour, shake off the excess, then dip in the egg, then the breadcrumbs.

When dipping the chicken in the flour, be careful not to flop the chicken down into the mixture.  You will have flour everywhere.  The front of your pants for example, also all over your floor.  It will look like Tony Montana is your best friend.  And yes, I did this.  The bottom of my feet were well floured after standing in it while finishing the meal.

Heat 1 Tbsp of olive oil in a large pan over medium to medium-low heat.  Add the chicken breast and cook for about 2 minutes per side, until the breadcrumbs turn into that awesome looking golden brown color.

Grab a baking sheet or some other metal device for oven-based cooking and put a sheet of parchment paper on it.  Place the chicken on said baking sheet and throw it in the oven for about 5-10 minutes.

While the chicken is the the oven we need to make the sauce.  Wipe out the pan we used for the chicken and over medium heat melt 1Tbsp of butter.  Once melted add the lemon juice, wine, the lemon halves that we squeezed out to make the lemon juice, 1/2 tsp of salt, and 1/4 tsp of pepper.

Once everything is in there turn the heat up a little bit and boil the mixture for about 2 minutes until it is reduced in half.  Normally when I have to reduce some kind of sauce it takes forever for that to actually happen.  I don't know if its just me, but that seems to be the way it goes.  This time however it behaved appropriately.

When the mixture is reduced turn off the heat and throw the leftover butter in there and swirl it around until it melts into the mixture.

Get rid of the lemon halves.  Or better yet, save them to get chewed up in the disposal (if you have a disposal of course) it will make your kitchen smell lovely.  I would recommend cutting them into slightly smaller chunks before this step though, never can be to careful when a disposal is involved.

By the time the sauce is ready it should be time to pull the chicken out of the over.  Plate the chicken and spoon the sauce over the chicken.  Don't be shy about this.  This particular recipe makes plenty of sauce for two chicken breasts.

As I mentioned above if you're feeling pretentious or wanting to impress someone cut a slice from another lemon and grab a little sprig (sprig? leaf?) of parsley to add to the presentation value of your meal.  I would dominate Iron Chef.  Ok maybe not, but I want my own kitchen stadium anyway.  I'll set up a paypal account where you can all make donations towards this wonderful cause.

I finished this little meal with a simple caesar salad (I love caesar salad, so simple and yet so delicious).   And for good measure a bottle of Gnarly Head Pinot Grigio.  If you have the means, I highly recommend picking up a bottle.

Ok so breaded chicken sauteed in oil and then doused in a butter sauce, I was definitely kidding myself about the "healthy" aspect of this meal.  But it was delicious so I don't care.

Recipe from: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/chicken-piccata-recipe/index.html