Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Sarah Condley

Columnist

I get bored preparing the same old things repeatedly and was in the mood to have chicken for supper when I ran across a recipe for Quick Chicken Piccata that I’d torn from an old issue of Southern Living Magazine. I’ve never eaten chicken piccata, but the word “quick” in the title sold me.

Even though I’m retired and should have more time on my hand, it seems like I have less time to spend in the kitchen cooking these days.

Once the chicken was thawed, I started gathering the other ingredients I’d need for this dish. Next, I put each boneless, skinless breast into a zip-loc bag, one at a time, and pounded them with a meat mallet. Getting each piece to the correct thickness only took a few hits.

Instead of measuring the salt and pepper, I just sprinkled some on each chicken breast and then dredged them in the seasoned breadcrumbs. (Because I didn’t have fresh parsley to add to the sauce I’d be making after frying the chicken, I added some dried parsley flakes to the breadcrumbs.)

The skillet was heating up when I poured in about a tablespoon of olive oil. Once the oil was hot, I added chicken pieces to the skillet to brown. So that I wouldn’t crowd the pan and steam the chicken instead of frying it, I did cook the chicken in two batches. The chicken browned beautifully, and it was done before I knew it.

While the chicken was cooked, I prepared some egg noodles for me and some whole wheat spaghetti for Brad (because I haven’t been able to find whole wheat egg noodles at the store).

Once the chicken was done and was sitting on a platter covered with foil to keep it warm, I added the chicken broth and lemon juice to the skillet; gently scraping the bottom of the skillet to loosen all of the flavorful bits while the sauce cooked. The sauce began thickening, and I removed the skillet from the burner and added the butter. When the butter melted, I poured the sauce over the cooked chicken breasts, and we were ready to eat.

Brad and I put some pasta on our plates, topped it with chicken breast, and began to eat. I liked the lemon flavor of this sauce and so did Brad. The chicken was tender and was just overall good. We both really enjoyed this dish and my only complaint is that there wasn’t enough sauce for me. I would have liked more of it so it would have saturated the pasta a bit.

This dish does live up to the name Quick Chicken Piccata and is a definite Nailed It recipe. I also like that the kitchen wasn’t a disaster after cooking, making cleaning easier.

This recipe is headed to my self-made cookbook, along with a note to double the sauce recipe next time.

Quick Chicken Piccata

Instructions

• 1-pound chicken breasts

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

• 1/2 cup Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs

• 2 Tablespoons olive oil

• • 1/4 cup chicken broth

• 3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice

• 2 Tablespoons butter

• 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

• 1 (12 oz.) package cooked noodles

Ingredients

• Cut each chicken breast in half horizontally.  Place chicken between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap; flatten to 1/4-inch thickness, using a rolling pin or the flat side of a meat mallet.

• Sprinkle the chicken evenly with salt and pepper; lightly dredge in breadcrumbs.

• Cook half of chicken in 1 Tablespoon hot oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat 2 minutes on each side or until golden brown and done. Remove chicken to a serving platter and cover with aluminum foil.  Repeat procedure with remaining chicken and 1 Tablespoon olive oil.

• Add broth and lemon juice to skillet, and cook, stirring to loosen particles from bottom of skillet, until sauce is slightly thickened.  Remove from heat, add butter and parsley, stirring until butter melts.  Pour sauce over chicken and serve over warm noodles.