Chicken Piccata

Chicken Piccata is a wonderful, classic Italian dish. I've always enjoyed eating this dish because it has a nice, fresh tang which comes from the lemon-based sauce.

While I have ordered it several times at restaurants, I have never attempted to cook it. It wasn't until my good friend Lucille (who happens to be a fiery Sicilian) had me help her prepare it for a typical Italian family dinner. It was easy enough to cook the dish with her, so last night I decided to cook it for myself.

Here's what I did (and apologies in advance that I don't have exact measurements. I did, after all, steal this recipe from a family):

Ingredients

chicken breasts

flour

butter

garlic

white wine

mushrooms

lemon juice

parsley

capers

If the chicken breasts aren't thin enough, use a tenderizer to pound them until they are thin. Afterwards, lightly coat each side with flour. In a pan coated with butter, cook the chicken breasts thoroughly and set aside.

Throw more butter in the pan and sautee the garlic and mushrooms. Afterwards, pour in the lemon juice and white wine, letting it simmer until the ingredients thoroughly mix with each other. Both Lucille and I--on separate occasions--added too much lemon juice, and we needed to balance out the taste by pouring in more white wine. So, be sure to constantly taste the sauce!

Add more flour to thicken the sauce. Lastly, throw in some Italian parsley and capers, and let it simmer for a few more minutes. Once the sauce is done, pour it over the chicken, and serve the dish with pasta (I prefer to have Piccata with linguini).

Tip: Make enough sauce to pour over your pasta. Also, don't forget, be easy on the lemon juice.

Buon appetito!