Chicken Piccata, Gift Bags and an Award

July 19, 2012 - Cooking & Recipes, Main Dish, Money Saving Tips, Poultry - Tagged: - 21 comments

In this summer’s record heat, my mantra has become, “do not heat up the kitchen,” a goal with serious  implications for a die-hard foodie.  Cold sandwiches get old fast, so I was happy when I remembered Chicken Piccata, a dish that cooks quickly and still feels indulgent.

Chicken Piccata

Chicken Piccata

The ingredients in this recipe dovetail nicely with the grilled chicken (another “cool kitchen” dish) that we had recently. Out of a whole cut up bird, I grilled the legs, wings, and thighs, then deboned and saved the meaty breasts which tend to get dry on the grill anyway.

In my “corporate” days, I used to buy Market Day (fundraiser) frozen cutlets and my (part time) nanny would make this for dinner.  Now I had a less expensive and organic way to achieve the same.  Mmmmm, why did I wait so long?

Lemons, Capers, Garlic

Lemons, Capers, Garlic

Chicken Piccata

Ingredients

  • 4 pieces boneless, skinless chicken breast (I halved 2 large chicken breasts)
  • 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 clove large garlic, thinly sliced
  • 1/2 cup chicken broth
  • 1 lemon, peeled and sectioned
  • 1 tablespoon capers

Directions

Place chicken breasts between two sheets of plastic and pound to an even 1/2 inch thickness.

Combine flour, salt and pepper in a shallow dish. Dredge chicken in flour until evenly coated; shake off any excess.

Heat a large, skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil and heat until hot, but not smoking. Sauté chicken until golden brown on both sides and thoroughly cooked, about 8 minutes. Remove from pan and hold warm.

Sautee Chicken Cutlets

Sautee Chicken Cutlets

Add garlic to skillet and cook for 1 minute, or until fragrant, but not brown. Add chicken broth and bring to a boil, scraping the bottom to remove any browned bits. Stir in lemon sections and capers.

Chicken Piccata Sauce

Chicken Piccata Sauce

Spoon sauce over chicken and serve.

Chicken Piccata

Chicken Piccata

Makes 4 servings.

Another Green, Money Saving Idea

And speaking of green, money-saving ideas, you may notice there is a slice of bread on the serving dish (first photo).  One of my CSAs has a “breadshare” option and for an extra payment, you get a weekly loaf of artisan bread with your box (hooray, no heat again).  These come in individually labeled bags (believe me that’s necessary to keep bread from disappearing) and, like I did last Christmas, I am decorating and reusing these as gift bags.  See my transformation for an upcoming  baby shower (the other bag is from Gap)!

CSA Breadshare

CSA Breadshare

Homemade Baby Shower Gift Bags

Homemade Baby Shower Gift Bags

And now for the award!  

I have received the Addictive Blogger award from Choc Chip Uru (thank you!) at Go Bake Yourself , an Australian teen, whose delicious treats are highlighted in her own addictive blog.   Take a look–sometime when you want a chocolate or other fun food!  This award is given to blogs you can’t stop reading and the rules for accepting it are to a) thank the giver and then b) pass it along to 10 bloggers you read.

Since I gave out 15 other awards recently, I decided to focus on some of the newer blogs I am reading as well as some of the bloggers I traveled with on a recent bloggers tour.  Here are my honorees:

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