I seem to be going in spurts with my blogging these days...going weeks and even years at a time between postings. Well, I think I might be able to keep to a regular entry from here on out, as it is a good form of therapy and less harmful than alcohol.
Today's dinner entry is one completely by accident. I was asked by my friend Janet to make chicken picatta for her for dinner one night. Having never attempted it before, I thought "hey, what the hell?" and just loosely followed a recipe that I found. Well, holy heck was it ever tasty! Since then, chicken picatta has been a somewhat regular meal feature in our home, and we've decided to do a good spin on the classic (and very tasty) chicken and waffles. Now, like my previous entries, this isn't a recipe that does a lot of measuring, and you go pretty much by taste. Trust me, in the end it will come together nicely, and you'll want to have it as a regular meal as well. Warning, though. If you are watching your weight, or concerned about cholesterol, you might want to stay away from this one. But, if you're okay with having it on an occasional basis, well, giddy up! Here's the recipe.
- 1 package of boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or boneless and skinless thighs, whatever your preference-I prefer white meat, just to keep it on the "lean side")
- 1 jar capers
- Lemon juice
- Butter (salted is fine)
- Salt
- Lemon pepper
- Flour-just enough to dredge the chicken in
- Three eggs
- Oil
- Pancake mix for the waffles (Now, if you don't have a waffle iron to make your own, you want to go for frozen Belgian waffles for this recipe)
Preheat oven to 350F
For the chicken:
- Crack three eggs into a shallow pie plate and beat lightly. Add a tablespoon of water to thin out slightly. Set up a flour dredging station and add flour, salt and lemon pepper. If you don't have lemon pepper, regular salt and pepper works well.
- On medium high heat, heat enough canola oil in frying pan to fry the chicken
- To dredge the chicken: first dip the chicken in the flour mixture. Shake off excess flour and dip into the egg mixture and then back into the flour mixture. Be sure to shake off excess flour. You'll want to prepare all of your chicken before you start to fry it.
- Once chicken is prepared, and oil is heated, brown chicken on both sides, cooking it until it's golden brown. Once browned, remove from frying pan, and set on paper towel to remove excess oil.
For the sauce:
- In a medium sized saucepan, you'll want to melt about 1/2 lb of butter on medium heat
- Once butter is melted, add in about 1/4 cup lemon juice
- To the butter and lemon juice, add 1/2 small jar of capers, along with brine, and let simmer. Now, when you taste this, you might be taken aback at the strong lemon/briny taste. Not to worry, this will mellow out with the chicken. However, if you find it's too pungent, adding chicken stock, about 1/4 cup will help to mellow things out.
Place chicken in an oven proof pan. Cover up with lemon caper sauce and cover with tin foil. You'll want to cook the chicken until it falls apart, approximately 30-45 minutes.
While the chicken is cooking, prepare waffles. If you're using a waffle iron, I always found it helpful to prepare the batter to be on the thick side. With my handy waffle iron, it takes about 8-9 minutes to make two golden brown waffles. Be sure to make about 8-10 waffles, as this meal is good for four hearty portions. If you're using frozen Belgian waffles, prepare according to the package directions.
Once chicken is cooked, and waffles are prepared, I like to portion out two waffles per person, with the chicken and picatta sauce sandwiched between the two waffles, and topping the waffle with lemon caper sauce, to taste. Serve this with your vegetable of choice, or a side salad.
Enjoy!
