Ina Garten's Chicken Piccata

Oh mama, do I LOVE piccata! The butter, the lemon, the capers! These light flavors are great for a summer dinner. With traditional dishes its tough to say with utmost confidence, "This is my recipe," because truthfully it's really not. These recipes are passed down through the ages and all we can hope to do is tweak them to match our style of cookery.

For my chicken piccata the basics were already in my head but I wanted a super lemony flavor so I turned to our collective brain trust-the Internet-to compare piccata sauce preparation variations. Most of the recipes online are identical which only validated that my working knowledge of this dish was correct. I knew that I did not want a rue to be my sauce base, so any recipe calling for such a thing close to a rue I dismissed. After my exhaustive comparative analysis, I settled on using Ina Garten's Chicken Piccata recipe for my guide.

Ladies and Gents, I am here to tell you that if you crave piccata use this recipe! I was frothing at work all day today for just a bite of my perfectly cooked chicken oozing with the sensational lemon-caper sauce. Without further ado, here's Ina's recipe with my alternations in orange.

Ingredients

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• 2 split (1 whole) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 extra-large egg
• 1/2 tablespoon water
• 3/4 cup seasoned dry bread crumbs
• Good olive oil
• 2 tblp capers
• 3 cloves fresh garlic, cut into 3-4 slivers per clove
  
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature, divided
• 1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons), lemon halves reserved
• 1/2 cup dry white wine-used white cooking wine
  
• Sliced lemon, for serving
• Chopped fresh parsley leaves, for serving

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (I did 350). Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

Place each chicken breast between 2 sheets of parchment paper or plastic wrap and pound out to 1/4-inch thick. Sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper.

Mix the flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper in a shallow plate. In a second plate, beat the egg and 1/2 tablespoon of water together. Place the bread crumbs on a third plate. Dip each chicken breast first in the flour, shake off the excess, and then dip in the egg and bread crumb mixtures.

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large saute pan over medium to medium-low heat and add garlic. Add the chicken breasts and cook for 2 minutes on each side, until browned. Place chicken and garlic on the sheet pan and allow them to bake for 5 to 10 minutes while you make the sauce.

For the sauce, wipe out the saute pan with a dry paper towel. Over medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter and then add the lemon juice, wine, the reserved lemon halves, capers, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Boil over high heat until reduced in half, about 2 minutes. Off the heat, add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and swirl to combine (I whisked to combine). Discard the lemon halves and serve 1 chicken breast on each plate (I saved the halves and served them in my pasta. They looked great!) Spoon on the sauce and serve with a slice of lemon and a sprinkling of fresh parsley.

A Whole Lotta Piccata

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