Chicken Piccata

This is one of my favorite dishes to order in Italian restaurants. I have an ongoing quest to find the Best Chicken Piccata, meaning it has to be at least as good as this perfect at-home rendition. So far, very few restaurants have come close.

In addition to this recipe being a dairy-free, gluten-free, soy-free version, it is an exercise in good cooking habits. By this I mean that in order to make this dish easy to prepare, first read the recipe all the way through, second, gather all your ingredients together and third, prep every step before you turn on a burner. Fourth is when you get to cook! This will make a multi-step recipe like this one easy to prepare. NOTE: I have some unusual ingredients in this recipe that you may not be familiar with. I provided links to them for your convenience. However, feel free to substitute your regular sources for these items if you prefer.

1. Rinse chicken breasts and lay on paper towels you have placed on a plastic cutting board. Pat dry with more paper towels on top. Leave chicken breasts between the paper towels as you pound with a meat pounder till breasts are of equal width. Remove paper towels. Cut breasts in half width-wise.

2. On a dinner plate, pour out about a handful of EnerG “bread” crumbs.

3. In a sauté pan, add olive oil and minced shallot and garlic.

4. Measure out the white wine, lemon juice and chicken broth. Add the capers.

5. Spoon out the cornstarch into a small bowl. Add the 2 TB water and stir to mix.

6. Mince the fresh herbs and set aside.

7. Now that you’re ready to cook, dredge the chicken breasts in the “bread” crumbs. When done, toss out the remaining “bread” crumbs.

8. Meanwhile, turn on the burner under the sauté pan to low and slowly cook the shallots and garlic until just golden.

9.  Add the additional TB of olive oil to a non-stick skillet. Turn burner to medium (you don’t want to overheat a non-stick pan). In batches, cook the chicken until browned on both sides, about 1-2 minutes, depending on thickness. Add a little more olive oil if needed. You do not want to cook them all the way through at this point. Remove to a plate.

10. When the shallots and garlic are golden, pour the white wine, lemon juice, chicken broth, caper mixture into the sauté pan and stir. Bring heat up so the mixture comes to a boil. Slide in the chicken breasts, cover the pan, turn heat to low and simmer for 3-4 minutes, or until chicken is just cooked (no longer pink inside).

11. Quickly spoon out a TB or so of the hot liquid from the pan into the cornstarch and water bowl, stir it up, then return to pan and stir to incorporate and thicken the Piccata sauce.

12. Sprinkle the fresh herbs over the chicken breasts and serve immediately.


Serves 4.

Lesa Heebner