April, 2016 archive

Almost every recipe that calls for veal can be made with chicken. This is a quick and easy recipe that turns out a special dish.

Ingredients:

1 chicken breast, skinned and boned (you can also use thighs or, as we called them where I grew up, “short joints”)
1 cp. flour, approx.
herbs and spices to taste
1/2 stick butter
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tbs. capers or more to taste*

Procedure:

1. Mix flour with herbs and spices. I commonly use pepper, tarragon, poultry seasoning, basil, garlic powder, and a bit of rosemary.

2. Slice meat into strips no more than 1/4″ thick.

3. Dredge meat in flour mixture until it is thoroughly coated.

4. Melt butter in skillet over medium heat.

5. Saute meat in skillet, turning as needed, in a single layer until golden brown. If you have more than will fit at once, place done pieces in a serving dish and keep in oven heated to about 200 Fahrenheits.

6. Once all the chicken is done and removed from the skillet, add lemon juice to the skillet and mix. (If necessary, melt more butter in the skillet before adding the lemon juice.) Stir the mixture, using a whisk or fork to loosen any bits of meat sticking to the pan.

7. Add capers.

8. Pour sauce over chicken and serve immediately.

Serves two.
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*Classic piccata recipes do not necessarily call for capers; they should.

The first veal piccata I had was in a long-gone Italian restaurant in Center City Philadelphia near my hotel at 18th and Market. It contained capers and I loved it. The next time I ordered veal piccata was in a different Italian restaurant on another business trip. It contained no capers and was quite boring.