Chicken Piccata, and Why You Should Never Trust Internet Recipes

(#10) Master 25 New Recipes

1. Stuffed Peppers
2. Risotto
3. Polenta
4. Beef Brisket
5. French Onion Soup
6. Chocolate Chip Cookies
7. Lentil Soup
8. Macaroni & Cheese
9. Zucchini Bread
10. Chicken Piccata

Yes, I realize the irony of this title. But here's my point: you are a better cook than you think. And in most cases, recipes should be taken (excuse the cooking pun) with a grain of salt.

To make chicken piccata, I used this recipe that I found on Pinterest. As I was doing my first read through (and yes you should read all the way through the recipe before you start, lest you wind up marinating your chicken for an unexpected four hours and wind up eating dinner at 11pm) I was instantly skeptical about certain aspects.

One, the recipe is formatted as three giant paragraphs. I like my steps to be written out as individual numbers (as below) lest I get overwhelmed and/or miss a step.

Two, the recipe included instructions to keep the chicken warm in a pre-heated plate in the oven while making the sauce. Yeah, okay. I'll get right on that. Just kidding- I covered my chicken with a piece of foil and it stayed plenty warm.

I also made about 1 1/2 times the amount of sauce, so that I could use the rest on my pasta and broccoli. 

Okay, on to the actual recipe.

First, the original recipe says to season your chicken with salt and pepper, and then dredge it in flour. I say, take the flour as an opportunity to add more flavor to your chicken. So I added parsley, onion powder, and garlic powder to my flour mixture.

You can customize with any seasonings you like, but remember to compliment what is going in the sauce. Curry powder for example would not be the best choice here.

Next, cook your chicken. This would be a good time to get your pasta water on as well.

Here are the secrets to getting nice browned meat, of any kind:

ALWAYS let your oil heat up before adding the meat.

NEVER overcrowd your pan. Work in two batches if necessary.

NEVER move or turn your meat while it is browning. You should only need to flip it once.

After the first flip.

You may need to turn the heat down a bit after browning to let the chicken cook all the way through without burning.

Once your pasta water starts boiling, add the pasta.

Here's a neat trick I learned for making pasta with broccoli: Add the broccoli right to the same pot where you are cooking the pasta. They cook in about the same time for us because we like our pasta al dente. You may want to cook the pasta for about two minutes before adding the broccoli.

There's pasta under there, I swear.

After cooking the chicken (I made two batches and then covered with foil) add more oil to the same pan and add your onions. The recipe called for shallots, which I didn't have, so I used regular onion. I think the shallots would have added a nicer, milder flavor.

This is the moment when your house will start to delicious. Every time Ronnie asks me, "What smells so delicious?" the answer is "All I've done so far is brown the onions." This time it was especially good because of all the browned chicken flavor left in the pan.

When the onions are browned add the chicken stock and deglaze the pan. The original recipe called for lemon slices but I added lemon zest instead. Cook it down for a few minutes and then add the rest of the ingredients to the sauce.

Pour most of the sauce over the chicken, leaving some in the pan.

 Then add the finished broccoli and pasta right to the same pan (see how few dishes we are using!).

I added a little more oil to make sure the pasta was coated. The pure sauce on its own would be a little too lemony over pasta.

And you're done!

My photography is one aspect of my cooking that could use a little improvement...

My full recipe is below, but remember- you ARE a good enough cook to customize almost any recipe.

Chicken Piccata with Broccoli

Ingredients:


3 large lemons, juiced and the zest from one of them
4-6 thin chicken breasts or chicken cutlets
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
4 Tbsp oil (I used EVOO)
1 shallot, minced (about 2 Tbsp.)
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
2 Tbsp. capers, drained and rinsed
3 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. fresh parsley (dried parsley would be fine here as well)
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp dried parsley (not fresh parsley as it would burn in the pan)
1/2 pound pasta (I used penne)
2 heads broccoli, cut into florets


1. Mix the garlic powder, onion powder, and teaspoon dry parsley with the flour on a large plate. Dredge the chicken in the flour mixture. Put your pasta water on to boil.
2. Heat the oil in a large skillet on medium heat. Add half the chicken and cook about four minutes on each side, flipping only once, until chicken is cooked through.
3. Reserve cooked chicken on a plate and cover with foil. Add pasta and broccoli florets to the water once it starts to boil.
4. Heat more oil in the same skillet and add chopped shallots. Once onions are browned, add chicken stock and scrape up and browned bits from the pan. Add the zest from one of the lemons.
5. Let the liquid reduce for about five minutes.
6. Add the drained capers, lemon juice, and cook down about two minutes.
7. Reduce the heat and add the butter and parsley. Stir until butter melts.
8. Pour most of the sauce of the reserved chicken (to taste) and leave the rest in the pan. Add the cooked and drained pasta and broccoli to the skillet. Add more olive oil to pan until the pasta is coated to your liking.
9. Enjoy!