I generally have capers on hand for one thing and one thing only: bagels and lox. I love bagels and lox, but it is a meal I reserve for special occasions and guests.<\/p>\n
But the other day, I was staring at that lone jar of capers on the lazy Susan in my fridge and I realized that I could use them for chicken piccata, which I also love, but have never made.<\/p>\n
Well, there will be many homemade chicken piccata meals in my future because it was simple, fast, and delicious. I used a basic recipe from the Joy of Cooking for reference, but I’m jotting down what I did from memory. (There are A LOT of recipes under “C”; besides chicken, there are some other big categories like cookies, Christmas recipes, children, and COCKTAILS.)<\/p>\n
A big bonus to peeking in my Joy of Cooking was learning how to properly pan-fry chicken. They referred to chicken breasts, but I usually just get the organic thighs in a 3-pack from Costco. It’s an Asian thing to prefer dark meat…<\/p>\n
Chicken Piccata<\/strong><\/p>\n chicken thighs (the Costco pack is about a pound and contains 4-5 deboned thighs – trim the fat if you can)<\/p>\n flour for dredging (I like to use a pie dish)<\/p>\n salt and pepper<\/p>\n wine or chicken stock (cup or so)<\/p>\n lemon juice (recipe calls for 2-4 T, I juiced two lemons)<\/p>\n capers (a T or more)<\/p>\n 1. Salt and pepper the thighs while you get your frying pan good and hot with a bit of oil in it.<\/p>\n 2. Dredge each thigh generously and use tongs to place in the HOT oil. Cook for FOUR MINUTES on each side. (Joy of Cooking is very specific about this – and it worked!)<\/p>\n 3. Put them on a rack in the oven at 350 to keep cooking\/stay hot while you make the sauce.<\/p>\n 4. In the same pan over lowered heat, add white wine (or stock), lemon juice, and capers. The actual recipe called for scallions or those other small fancy onions, but I didn’t have any on hand.<\/p>\n 5. Serve chicken with grain and veggie of choice (we did rice and roasted onions and cauliflower) and drizzle everything with sauce.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I generally have capers on hand for one thing and one thing only: bagels and lox. I love bagels and lox, but it is a meal I reserve for special occasions and guests. But the other day, I was staring … Continue reading