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The boy wanted his mama's chicken piccata recipe! Naturally, being me, I had to restrain myself from writing a complete history of piccata (from the Italian "to prick")
Hi Max,
This is a variant of yr basic "piccata" recipe. I've also seen "piccata" used to refer to a sauce poured on to the chicken after it's conventionally pan broiled. But I like the way this tastes better.
The proportions of the other ingredients really depend upon how much chicken you're going to cook. You will need boneless chicken -- breasts work best. Basically what you're going to do is cut up the chicken into portions and then pound it so you make "medallions" (this doesn't refer to how round the meat is, but rather to how thin it is.)
Pounding is a little problematic -- you don't want to break the meat, just thin it out. Methodical, steady pressure is your friend here. You can use a hammer or a rolling pin.
Anyhoo, assuming you're going to cook for 20 people, you will need 10 chicken breasts. Serving size will be approximately 6oz.
I'm giving you the recipe for 4 people -- 2 chicken breasts. Remember: the proportion of seasonings does not scale directly so don't just multiply 1 teaspoon of black pepper by 5: you will have to do a lot of tasting here to get the flavors right. And take notes! So if you like the way it turns out, you can reduplicate it.
Preheat yr oven to 375.
Assemble two bowls. Also have some baking dishes on hand.
Bowl 1: flour. (Enough to dredge all the chicken breasts in.)
Bowl 2: Beat 2 eggs. Add about a cup of Parmesan cheese. Chop approximately 2 cups of spinach very fine. (Can be frozen spinach if you don't have fresh, but obviously thaw it first.) Add two teaspoons of Italian herbs. I use the supermarket blend labeled -- duh! -- "Italian herbs" but you can make the blend yourself from parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. GO EASY ON THE ROSEMARY! It has a really strong flavor. Add one teaspoon of minced garlic. Add a teaspoon of salt. Add a teaspoon of black pepper. Combine these ingredients with the egg/cheese mixture. The resulting mixture should be very thick and gloopy, like batter.
Put some oil -- I like olive oil -- in a large saute pan over medium heat. Now. You want the oil to be hot enough when you put the chicken in it, because that's going to seal in the juices. But you don't want it to be so hot that it starts to fry the chicken.
First dredge the chicken pieces in the flour. Coat the pieces, shake off the excess flour.
Then dredge the chicken in the batter.
Place the chicken in the saute pan. You want to saute it until it's golden brown on both sides -- approximately 3 minutes per side.
Transfer the chicken out of the saute pan into the baking dish. When all the chicken has been sauted, put the baking dish in the oven to finish cooking for approximately 15 minutes. This part is important because it tenderizes the meat.
Love,
Mom
Hi Max,
This is a variant of yr basic "piccata" recipe. I've also seen "piccata" used to refer to a sauce poured on to the chicken after it's conventionally pan broiled. But I like the way this tastes better.
The proportions of the other ingredients really depend upon how much chicken you're going to cook. You will need boneless chicken -- breasts work best. Basically what you're going to do is cut up the chicken into portions and then pound it so you make "medallions" (this doesn't refer to how round the meat is, but rather to how thin it is.)
Pounding is a little problematic -- you don't want to break the meat, just thin it out. Methodical, steady pressure is your friend here. You can use a hammer or a rolling pin.
Anyhoo, assuming you're going to cook for 20 people, you will need 10 chicken breasts. Serving size will be approximately 6oz.
I'm giving you the recipe for 4 people -- 2 chicken breasts. Remember: the proportion of seasonings does not scale directly so don't just multiply 1 teaspoon of black pepper by 5: you will have to do a lot of tasting here to get the flavors right. And take notes! So if you like the way it turns out, you can reduplicate it.
Preheat yr oven to 375.
Assemble two bowls. Also have some baking dishes on hand.
Bowl 1: flour. (Enough to dredge all the chicken breasts in.)
Bowl 2: Beat 2 eggs. Add about a cup of Parmesan cheese. Chop approximately 2 cups of spinach very fine. (Can be frozen spinach if you don't have fresh, but obviously thaw it first.) Add two teaspoons of Italian herbs. I use the supermarket blend labeled -- duh! -- "Italian herbs" but you can make the blend yourself from parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. GO EASY ON THE ROSEMARY! It has a really strong flavor. Add one teaspoon of minced garlic. Add a teaspoon of salt. Add a teaspoon of black pepper. Combine these ingredients with the egg/cheese mixture. The resulting mixture should be very thick and gloopy, like batter.
Put some oil -- I like olive oil -- in a large saute pan over medium heat. Now. You want the oil to be hot enough when you put the chicken in it, because that's going to seal in the juices. But you don't want it to be so hot that it starts to fry the chicken.
First dredge the chicken pieces in the flour. Coat the pieces, shake off the excess flour.
Then dredge the chicken in the batter.
Place the chicken in the saute pan. You want to saute it until it's golden brown on both sides -- approximately 3 minutes per side.
Transfer the chicken out of the saute pan into the baking dish. When all the chicken has been sauted, put the baking dish in the oven to finish cooking for approximately 15 minutes. This part is important because it tenderizes the meat.
Love,
Mom
