Name: Bigly Chicken Piccata
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 2 large (about 1.5 lb) boneless skinless chicken breasts; 1 tsp kosher salt; 1/2 tsp black pepper; 1/2 cup, for dredging all-purpose flour; 3 tbsp olive oil; 5 tbsp, divided unsalted butter; 1 medium shallot, minced; 3 cloves garlic, minced; 1/2 cup dry white wine; 3/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth; 3 tbsp lemon juice, fresh; 3 tbsp capers, drained; 3 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped; 4 thin rounds lemon slices (for garnish)

Bigly Chicken Piccata

Prep

10m

Cook

15m

Total

25m

Bigly says

Let me ask you a question. Why is your chicken piccata DRY? Why? Who taught you to do that? Was it a man with a TV show? Find a new mentor. Chicken piccata is supposed to be juicy, glossy, glittering with butter and lemon — and most home cooks turn it into a sad medallion floating in a beige puddle. An insult to the chicken. The chickens deserve better. The chickens are watching.

An old Italian woman cornered me once outside a market in Rome — true story, mostly true, the geography may be flexible — and she made me promise to do chicken piccata HER way. Her way is the right way. The pan does the work. The lemon does the work. The capers — the CAPERS, the little green flavor bombs, the most underrated ingredient in all of cooking, criminally underrated, somebody needs to make a documentary about capers, I would WATCH that documentary — the capers do the work. You stand there with a glass of wine, you flip the chicken twice, and twenty minutes later you have an Italian restaurant in your kitchen. It's almost unfair to the restaurants. They should be NERVOUS.

Here's the move and most chefs are afraid to do it: pound the chicken thin. THIN. Quarter-inch thin. That chef on TV — you know the one — tells you 'cook 6 minutes a side.' Sad. Wrong. If your chicken is thin it cooks in TWO minutes a side and stays JUICY. Thick chicken is the enemy of fast cooking. Thin chicken is the friend of every weeknight that ever was. Trust me.

Ingredients

2 large (about 1.5 lb)boneless skinless chicken breasts(halved horizontally to make 4 thin cutlets)
1 tspkosher salt
1/2 tspblack pepper
1/2 cup, for dredgingall-purpose flour
3 tbspolive oil
5 tbsp, dividedunsalted butter(real butter, not margarine, never margarine, that is not even food)
1 mediumshallot, minced
3 clovesgarlic, minced
1/2 cupdry white wine
3/4 cuplow-sodium chicken broth
3 tbsplemon juice, fresh(from about 1 large lemon)
3 tbspcapers, drained
3 tbspfresh parsley, chopped
4 thin roundslemon slices (for garnish)

Steps

1
Place each chicken cutlet between two pieces of plastic wrap and pound with a mallet or heavy pan to an even 1/4-inch thickness.
2
Pat the cutlets dry with paper towels. Season both sides with the salt and pepper.
3
Spread the flour on a shallow plate. Dredge each cutlet in the flour, shaking off any excess.
4
Heat the olive oil and 2 tbsp of the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat until the butter is foaming.
5
Add the cutlets in a single layer (work in batches if your pan is small) and sear 2-3 minutes per side until golden brown and just cooked through. Transfer to a plate and tent loosely with foil.
6
Reduce heat to medium. Add the shallot to the pan and cook 1 minute. Add the garlic and cook 30 seconds until fragrant.
7
Pour in the wine and scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Simmer 1-2 minutes until reduced by half.
8
Add the chicken broth, lemon juice, and capers. Simmer 3-4 minutes until the sauce has reduced and thickened slightly.
9
Remove the pan from the heat. Swirl in the remaining 3 tbsp butter, one tablespoon at a time, until the sauce is glossy and emulsified.
10
Return the chicken to the pan along with any resting juices. Turn once to coat in the sauce.
11
Sprinkle with parsley, lay lemon slices over the top, and serve immediately over pasta, mashed potatoes, or with a hunk of crusty bread.

One more thing

Chicken piccata is the dish you make when you want to seem like you tried but you didn't, really, you didn't try at all — twenty minutes, one pan, and somehow people think you went to culinary school. They will ask. 'Did you go to culinary school?' Just smile. Don't answer. Let the silence do the work. Mystery is power, and chicken piccata is a delicious shortcut to it. Don't say I never gave you anything.