chicken piccata

I've been on a chicken craze this week and next up on my to cook list was Chicken Piccata. Chicken piccata is an Italian chicken dish that's made with scaloppines, capers, lemon and white wine. It's quite a light cutlet but the saltiness of the capers, the zestiness of the lemons and the richness of the butter goes together brilliantly. It's a very simple dish that can be put together pretty quickly.

The only downside to this dish? I absolutely hate doing the dishes afterwards. Coating the chicken breasts in flour = 1 more extra dish to clean. If someone comes up/knows a way of making cutlets with minimizing the dishwashing afterwards, please e-mail me ASAP!

Chicken Piccata
Adapted from Giada De Laurentiis' Everyday Italian, Serves 4

Ingredients:
- 2 chicken breasts, butterflied and cut in half
- 3 - 4 tablespoons AP flour for dredging
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
- fresh juice from 2 lemons
- 0.333 cup white wine
- 0.5 cup chicken stock
- 0.25 cup capers, rinsed and drained
- bunch of fresh parsley, chopped

1) Season the butterflied and halved chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Dredge in flour and set aside.
2) In a pan/skillet, heat up a couple tablespoons of olive oil and 2 tablespoons of butter. Don't brown the butter, the temperature should be at about medium-high. When the butter and olive oil starts to sizzle, add the chicken breasts and cook about 2 - 3 minutes per side. Work in batches if needed (adding more olive oil & butter PRN, as needed) and remove the cooked chicken to a plate.
3) Deglaze the pan with white wine, scraping the browned bits on the bottom of the pan.
4) Add lemon juice, capers and chicken stock. Bring the sauce to a boil and taste. Adjust seasonings.
5) Return the chicken breasts back to the pan and simmer for 4 - 5 minutes more until the chicken breasts are completely cooked through.
6) Remove chicken onto serving dishes and add 2 tablespoons of butter to the sauce. Shake the butter into the sauce.
7) Spoon the sauce over the chicken breasts and garnish with chopped parsley. Serve immediately.
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I'll be in agony for the next 3 weeks with these rotations. I have never worked in a pharmacy so unorganized and dirty as the one I'm at now. I'm not a quitter so I won't complain until the final evaluation but I have to say my first day wasn't a positive one. Hopefully cooking will keep me sane for the next 3 weeks...