Friday, March 29, 2013

Chicken piccata

Back in my single days, I sometimes bought frozen dinners, ug. Well I say "ug" now, but back then I found a few that I liked quite well. One of them was for a dish called Chicken Piccata, which until that point I'd never heard of.

A couple years ago while leafing through one of my favorite cookbooks, what should I see but a recipe for chicken piccata! It turned out to be a delicious dish, and now I make it fairly often.


Here's the recipe. Since I was cooking three pounds of chicken, I multiplied it numerous times. Don't follow the measurements too slavishly -- feel free to tweak as you wish. This is a very forgiving recipe.


I start by beating together eggs and milk. The bowl should be roomy.


Next, crushed cornflakes and flour. While the recipe calls for equal amounts of crushed cornflakes and flour, I tend to lean more toward about a 2:1 ratio. More cornflakes gives the chicken a golden crust.


The chicken needs to be pounded flat. I lay a piece on some waxed paper...


...and lay another piece of waxed paper over it. This is because I use my husband's rubber shop mallet for pounding, and it's not exactly clean.


Pound the chicken, but don't go too crazy. You don't want it paper-thin, you just want it flat. Lay the pounded chicken aside on a plate and do another piece.


When all the chicken is pounded, melt some butter with minced garlic in a fry pan.


Dredge each chicken piece first in the egg/milk mix...


...then in the cornflakes/flour mixture. Make sure the chicken gets thoroughly coated.


Then pan-fry everything. Keep the temperature fairly low and don't rush this step because the chicken crust can easily burn.


When you flip the chicken, you'll see the beautiful golden color of the coating.


When the chicken is cooked, the girls just dive in; but Don and I enjoy sautéed mushrooms with it. I use one of the fry pans and add a bit more butter and garlic, along with some lemon juice. I usually have canned mushrooms in the pantry, so I use those.


Serve with a green vegetable, and you've got a really really really good dinner.

13 comments:

  1. LOL

    I was just talking with a neighbor over coffee about the chickens in your freezer.

    We also talked about moveable ground coops.

    Daytime predation here seems to be a bigger problem than it is at your place. I'll eventually have a flock of smart chickens. lol

    A.McSp

    A. McSp

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  2. Patrice,

    This recipe sounds divine but the pictures look even better. Thanks for sharing.

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  3. With my husband's first wild turkey, I made a turkey piccata with morels. It is one of my absolute most favorite dishes in all the world!

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  4. Sorry. WND last paragraph, is METES a word.
    I am not familiar with the word.

    LG

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    Replies
    1. My correction.

      Definition of METE
      1 archaic : measure
      2 to give out by measure : dole —usually used with out

      LG

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    2. Can't wait to try this recipe! My first Chicken Picatta was in a posh San Francisco restaurant (long ago, far away) and was smothered with capers. Yours looks better, Patrice.

      Pounding step: the plastic liner bag from a cereal box is the best for such chores....and the price is right! It's tough, never shreds, is food-grade and clean, and it's disposable. Save up a few -- recycling at its best.

      Christy

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  5. Phyllis (N/W Jersey)March 30, 2013 at 5:19 AM

    Yummy! Try adding a little horseradish to the egg mixture next time - gives it a nice kick!

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  6. as a single man after 51 years i really like your easy to understand reciptes.i never cooked much as i am a 31yr navy man ret.my dauters had me get a electric cooker.your stuff is great.thank you.ed

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  7. When i pound out chicken or even steaks, i use the side of a dessert plate. They tend to be cleaner then hubby's rubber mallet :>)

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  8. Guess what we just enjoyed for our Resurrection Sunday dinner? I served your chicken piccata (which a friend said can also be called chicken milanesa) with rice and orzo pilaf, asparagus shoots and fruit gelatin. Can we post pictures here?

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  9. Looks really good. Thanks for sharing.

    Em

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  10. I love Chicken Piccata! I never buy or have corn flakes, so I used panko bread crumbs and I've always added capers, because I love capers. Thanks for the post, I needed dinner inspiration!

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