Chicken piccata is one of my favorite things to order at a restaurant, but I have never tried to make it myself until now.  It was actually a surprisingly quick and easy dinner to make. 

In a restaurant this is usually served with some kind of pasta.  Being on a bit of a health kick right now, I just served the chicken and sauce with a side of fresh brussels sprouts.

Recipe adapted from Ok. I’ll eat That.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 large lemons
• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1 1/2 pounds), trimmed of excess fat — I used 3 large frozen breasts from Costco, cut them in half, and pounded them thin.
• Salt and ground black pepper
• 1/2cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1small shallot , minced (about 2 tablespoons)
• 1 small garlic clove, minced (about 1 teaspoon)
• 1 cup chicken stock or canned low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons small capers , drained
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter , softened

INSTRUCTIONS

Halve one lemon.  Cut half of one of the lemons into slices 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick; set aside. Juice remaining half and whole lemon to obtain 1/4 cup juice; reserve. Mince shallot and garlic.

Pound out chicken breasts into thin cutlets.  Sprinkle both sides of cutlets generously with salt and pepper. Measure flour into pie tin or shallow baking dish.

Working one cutlet at a time, coat with flour, and shake to remove excess.

Lay chicken pieces in skillet. Sauté cutlets, without moving them, until lightly browned on first side, 2 to 2 1/2 minutes. ‘

Turn cutlets and cook until second side is lightly browned, 2 to 2 1/2 minutes longer.

Remove pan from heat and transfer cutlets to plate.
Your pan should look like this:

Add shallot and garlic to now-empty skillet and return skillet to medium heat. Sauté until fragrant, about 30 seconds for shallot or 10 seconds for garlic.

Now, deglaze the pan by adding stock and lemon slices, increase heat to high, and scrape skillet bottom with wooden spoon or spatula to loosen browned bits. Mmmmm. Brown bits full of flavor.

Simmer until liquid reduces to about 1/3 cup, about 4 minutes. Add lemon juice and capers and simmer until sauce reduces again to 1/3 cup, about 1 minute.

Remove pan from heat and swirl in butter until butter melts and thickens sauce;  Add chicken back to the pan.  Spoon sauce over chicken and serve immediately.