Chicken Piccata with Lemon & Capers

Rarely do I follow an exact recipe. When I do, I tend to mess it up. I think it's because I read it, then think I remembered the steps, and then I'll forget something, misread it. Even the simplest of recipes. David sort of makes fun of me about it.

NOT TONIGHT!

This is what Vincent's plate looked like. Yummy, if you ask me. This is what my plate looked like. Even yummier.

The recipe, taken from the June 2010 issue of Parenting Magazine.

Prep time: 30 minutes

Total time: 40 minutes

Serves: 4

4 small (4-5 oz) boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

1/3 cup flour

3 Tbsp olive oil, divided

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 cup dry white wine

3/4 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth

2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice, divided

1 1/2 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut in cubes

2 Tbsp capers, rinsed and drained

1 lemon, thinly sliced, for garnish (optional)

1) slice the chicken horizontally to make 8 thin cutlets. Season the chicken lightly with salt & pepper. Pound very gently between waxed paper to even thickness to about 1/4 inch. Dredge in the flour, shake off excess, and transfer to a large plate.

2) Heat 1.5 T of the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add half the chicken and saute until golden, about 2 minutes. Turn and saute about 1 minute more, until browned. Transfer to a clean plate and cover with foil. Repeat with the remaining chicken, using the other 1.5 T oil.

3) After removing the chicken from the pan, add the garlic, stir about 10 seconds, then add the wine. Scrape the brown bits off the bottom of the pan, and cook until wine is reduced slightly and almost syrupy. Add the broth and 1 T of the lemon juice, and cook a few minutes more, until slightly reduced. Return the chicken to the pan, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 2 minutes.

4) Plate the chicken. Turn off the heat, swirl in the butter, the capers, and the remaining T of lemon juice; season to taste with salt and pepper. Pour the sauce over chicken, and garnish, if you like, with the lemon slices. Serve with orzo and steamed broccolini.

*I served with capellini and steamed broccolette. I don't know the difference, but that's what it was called when I got my CSA box yesterday. This was really tasty. In the photos, I didn't show the stems of the broccolette, but we did eat those as well. They're sweet, but the ends get really tough. I tossed the florettes in extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper, and sprinkled paremesan cheese on top.

Chicken & Mushrooms Cooked in Marsala, And, White Asparagus

A few weeks ago, I made this chicken dish. Then, I ran out the door to go to my sewing class. When I returned a few hours later & reheated my portion, it was still super yummy.

What I did was slice up two chicken breast on a bias, so that the pieces were sort of small and flat. Then, I dredged them in a little bit of seasoned flour and seared them in a little oil in a frying pan. Once all the pieces were seared on both sides, I placed them on a baking sheet & finished cooking them in the oven.

While the chicken cooked, I prepared my sauce. I sauteed sliced crimini mushrooms (I know, so uninteresting, but in these economic times, they're more affordable than wild mushrooms) on medium-high heat, added chopped garlic and deglazed the pan with marsala wine. I allowed that to reduce by about half, then added mushroom broth (I took the stems off the mushrooms and just put them in a small pan with water and made a light broth). When the chicken was done cooking, I added them into the sauce and finished with some butter. Chopped parsley makes a nice garnish. White asparagus...mmmmmm.

Aren't these beautiful? This is what Jamie Oliver says you should do with WHITE asparagus...

"Using a peeler, peel off the outer layer of the asparagus spears, from 2 inches below the tip down to the bottom, then tie them in a bundle with a piece of string. Get your deepest saucepan with a lid - the asparagus spears should be able to stand up inside the pan. If they can't, slice the ends off to make them fit. Bring a pan of salted water to the boil and stand the asparagus upright in it. Throw in any sliced-off ends, boil for 5 minutes with the lid on, then turn off the heat. Let the asparagus sit in the pan for another 10 minutes."

-Jamie Oliver, Jamie At Home

I did not stand my asparagus in the pot, and I cooked the spears for about 8 minutes, maybe 10 without the lid on. They turned out lovely. I just served these with sprinkled with sea salt and drizzled with extra virgin olive oil. They were delicate and sweet.

Orecchietti with Shrimp & Chorizo

Oh my goodness, just thinking about this dish makes me mouth water. My photo doesn't do this dish justice. And, since I couldn't wait to dig in, I couldn't stop and take another photo with it in my bowl. You'll just have to take my word for it.

I got the idea for this the night before I made it, when I made chorizo sandwiches (not as good as I pictured in my head). I had purchased wild caught prawns on a whim that day & the wheels began to turn. I wrote down on a piece of paper my preparation idea, held on to it after the dish was made, and apparently lost it since then. So I'll do my best to remember.

Here's what I did (I think):

-1/2 pound orecchietti pasta, cooked as per packaging, drizzled with olive oil and set aside.

-1 pound size 10/15 (I think mine were more like 15) wild caught prawns, peeled, deveined &
set aside until time to cook.

Put the prawn shells into a small pan, cover with water and simmer for approximately 45 minutes. You may add aromatics, such as the green part of a leek, garlic, onion, fennel, but I didn't. Strain and set aside in a warm place until ready to use.

-1 chorizo sausage link, squeezed out of its casing; approx. 1/4 pound
Pour about 1T of cooking oil to a medium/large hot skillet. Add the chorizo and break up into
bits. Allow to cook on med/high heat until the meat starts to brown, then add...

-1/2 sweet onion, brunoise (I actually diced mine slightly thicker than in this video, but either
should work). Cook onions about 2 minutes. Deglaze the pan with white wine, enough to almost cover the chorizo & onions. Let the wine reduce by about half.

Add the prawns to the pan (I didn't season them ahead of time, but you may choose to do so).

Add enough of the shell stock to just cover the prawns. Allow the broth to simmer until the
prawns are almost cooked, approximately 3 minutes on each side, then drizzle with a good
amount of extra virgin olive oil & bring to a quick boil (it helps emulsify the oil & broth a bit).

Add the orecchietti, and allow to cook just until the noodles are warmed through, stirring
gently. Check for seasoning and adjust as needed. Sprinkle with chopped Italian parsley. EAT!

Have your favorite crusty, dipping bread on the side for this...you'll want to sop up this broth, for sure. That's the one thing I forgot, but I was sure to finish up all my broth with a spoon.

Vegetable Risotto

Oh, this was good. Really good. I got the idea for this dish from America's Test Kitchen, for a spring vegetable risotto. I used the recipe as a guideline, as I've made risotto many times, but it have me some new ideas, which was nice. I liked how it suggests putting the vegetables trimmings into water to make a broth. I also liked the addition of garlic with the onions (I used shallots). It called for asparagus and peas. Tyler is possibly allergic to peas, so I didn't use them, but I had asparagus in house. It was a really great last minute meal, if I do say so myself. In addition to the asparagus, there's zucchini and crimini mushrooms as well. Rather than mix the parmesan cheese into the dish, I served it on the side with extra-virgin olive oil. Vincent likes to sprinkle his cheese himself, and though he could use the extra fat, I can't. One the side made the dish only a tiny bit healthier.

The salad is baby arugula with proscuitto and pinenuts with a pear balsamic vinegar & extra-virgin olive oil. Minced shallots. Use minced shallots in your salads. So good.

For Tyler, I put some of the vegetables in a food processor and chopped it up finely, then added it to the risotto.

Shrimp with Quinoa

I made this dish a couple of days ago. You can get these wild caught frozen jumbo shrimps at Trader Joe's. The shrimp were seasoned with salt & smoked paprika, sauteed in a pan with olive oil and the juice of half a lemon at the end. The quinoa has bacon, mushrooms, shallots, and marsala wine, cooked separately, then mixed in when the quinoa was done. Sorry there aren't more details...I'm a little bit in a rush. Kind of a monochromatic dish, huh? But, it was super yummy. Smokey, sweet goodness.