Chicken Piccata
Crisp cutlet, lemon-caper-butter pan sauce and parsley.
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The butter goes in OFF heat, cold, one cube at a time, swirling. This is called 'mounting' - the cold butter emulsifies into the sauce instead of melting and breaking. If you just throw it in hot, you get an oily slick instead of a silky pan sauce.
Ingredients
Everything below makes 4 servings.
- 1½ lbchicken breasthalved horizontally into cutlets, pounded to 1/2 inch
- ⅓ cupall-purpose flour
- 2 tbspolive oil
- 4 tbspunsalted buttercold, cubed
- 1 mediumshallotminced
- 3garlic clovesminced
- ½ cupdry white wine
- ½ cupchicken stock
- 3 tbspfresh lemon juicefrom about 1.5 lemons
- 3 tbspcapers (drained)drained, rinsed if very salty
- ¼ cupfresh parsleychopped
- 1lemonsliced into thin rounds for garnish
- 1 tspkosher salt
- ½ tspfreshly ground black pepper
In the app these rescale to however many people you're feeding.
Nutrition
Per serving, as written.
- 460calories
- 44gprotein
- 12gcarbs
- 24gfat
Swaps move these numbers. A different protein or base changes them.
Instructions
Knife work first, then the stove. Nothing below asks you to chop while something burns.
- Halve breasts horizontally and pound to even 1/2 inch thickness. Season with 1 tsp salt and pepper.
- Mince shallot and garlic. Juice the lemons (3 tbsp lemon juice). Slice 1 lemon into thin rounds for garnish.
- Drain capers. Cube the butter and keep it COLD until you mount the sauce.
- Have wine and stock measured by the stove - this dish moves fast.
Dredge and sear
Dredge cutlets in flour, tap off excess. Heat olive oil in skillet over medium-high. Sear cutlets 3 min/side until deep golden. Transfer to a plate.
6 min · hands onAromatics
Reduce heat to medium. Add 1 tbsp of the butter. Add shallot, cook 1 min until soft. Add garlic, cook 30 sec until fragrant - don't brown.
2 min · hands onDeglaze and reduce
Pour in wine, scraping up the golden bits. Let it reduce until almost dry, about 2-3 min. Add stock, lemon juice, and capers. Simmer 2 min.
5 min · hands onReturn chicken
Slide the chicken back in with its resting juices. Spoon sauce over the top. Warm 2 min so the chicken drinks in the sauce - don't overcook.
2 min · hands onMount and finish
Move skillet OFF heat. Drop in remaining cold butter cubes one at a time, swirling the pan, until the sauce turns glossy and slightly thick. (Off heat is critical - boiling butter splits.) Scatter parsley, lay lemon rounds across the top.
2 min · hands onMake it yours
Every swap here is one Maui already knows how to make, including what it does to the timing.
Thighs sear 4-5 min/side; harder to dry out. Adds about 5 minutes.
Use the salmon-piccata recipe - flesh too delicate to dredge same way.
Boil 8 oz angel hair during the sauce - toss with extra sauce. Adds about 8 minutes.
Toss arugula and lemon and olive oil while chicken cooks. Adds about 5 minutes.
What keeps
Sauce reheats fine but the cutlets soften under it overnight. If batching, store cutlets and sauce separately and warm together gently.
Refresh with a squeeze of lemon at serving.
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