A few weeks ago, I faced another “end-of-the-week Thursday night cooking dilemma”—what to make for dinner.
The vegetables in the refrigerator were looking rather sad, having been bought at the farmers market the previous Saturday. The freezer was stocked with large portions of chicken, beef and fish (because I’m always cooking for a village). And since Friday night is eating downtown date night for my husband and me, no leftovers were needed. Sometimes, I will make a pasta dish with leftover bacon from Sunday along with chopped onion, garlic and parsley. And then there’s the tuna and cannelloni bean special with a little roasted red pepper, olive oil and vinegar thrown in.
On this particular evening, I found a lonely little package of two chicken cutlets. Despite not knowing how long they had been languishing there, I decided to do something with them. They would be fine.
I decided on pan-sautéing them and then adding what I could find in the refrigerator to make a sauce. That ended up being some lemons, a half jar of capers, leftover white wine (always in the fridge) and some sweet, unsalted butter. The end result was pretty good, and I realized that I had made chicken piccata, a classic Italian dish also made with veal.
Piccata is usually made with meat or chicken cutlets that are pounded thin. I buy “pre-flattened” chicken and pork cutlets at the farmers market, which are best made in a skillet. If you prefer veal, it too can be found as cutlets or sliced very thin “scaloppini” style. There are lots of piccata recipes out there, but you almost don’t need one.
As with so many dishes, the quality of your ingredients is key: real unsalted butter (no margarine here), fresh lemons (nothing from a green bottle) and white wine that is good enough to drink. Capers packed in salt are the preferred form, but I am usually fine with the ordinary brined variety. I use Wondra flour for coating the cutlets because it is so much lighter than regular flour and also can be used for thickening the pan sauce.
Traditional Chicken Piccata
Ingredients
- 4 thin (about ¼ inch) chicken cutlets (blotted dry with paper towels)
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- 1/4 cup flour (preferably Wondra)
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ cup white wine (can substitute chicken broth, but really won’t be as good)
- 2 tablespoons capers, rinsed
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley
Directions
- Spread the flour on a plate and lightly dredge the cutlets. (This is one situation where a non-stick skillet works best.) It’s important not to crowd the cutlets as they cook to ensure good browning.
- Melt one 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add two cutlets to the skillet at a time and brown them on both sides. Transfer them to a plate and repeat with the remaining cutlets.
- When all the cutlets are browned, pour the wine or chicken broth into the pan and scrape up any brown bits. Cook, stirring constantly until the liquid has thickened slightly.
- Stir in the capers, lemon juice and parsley and, finally, the remaining tablespoon of butter. (I may add a little more Wondra flour if I think the sauce needs to be thickened a bit.)
- Return the cutlets to the pan and let them simmer in the sauce for a few minutes to make sure they are thoroughly cooked.
- Plate the cutlets and pour the sauce over them along with a little chopped fresh parsley.
Cooking “piccata style” is a great technique to learn whether you use chicken, veal or pork. It’s an easy after-work dinner but elegant enough to serve for company. I am addicted to creamy, mashed Yukon Gold potatoes and would likely serve them with the cutlets, but rice is nice, too. Broccoli, brocallini or asparagus make a perfect green accompaniment.
And just in case you are looking for a Valentine’s Day meal, this might be it!
Author: Rosemary Ruggieri Baer
