Chicken piccata is one of my absolute favorite take-away dishes to order when we want a lazy night in. My only qualm was that I always felt like I needed more texture and definitely more lemony zing to the sauce rather than the usual buttery, drippy stuff. So, I decided to play around with adding some special ingredients like shallot and mushroom and then turning up the lemon power by adding lemon zest and lots of lemon juice! I also liked the idea of the sauce being a bit creamier and a couple dolups of buttermilk stirred in at the last minute was perfect.
A was also surprised by how relatively easy it was to make as it was my first time ever. I would suggest getting all your ingredients prepped and ready to go before starting so that the process is a breeze.
Ingredients:
Salt pepper
1/4 cup flour
2 tbs olive oil
2 tbs butter
5 mushrooms sliced
1 shallot minced
1 cup chicken stalk
1/2 cup lemon juice (about two lemons)
Zest of 1 lemon
2 tbs capers
1/3 cup light buttermilk or light sour cream
Fresh chopped parsley for garnish
2 lbs baby potatoes washed
Seasoning salt
Preheat your oven to low, it will be needed later to keep the chicken warm. For the potatoes, in a medium pot bring to boil 1 inch of water that's been seasoned with a generous amount of seasoning salt. Place the potatoes in the pot and cover. Set a timer for 25 minutes and turn off heat when timer is up but don't left the lid!
Meanwhile, pound out each chicken breast using a rolling pin. Sprinkle salt and pepper over each side of the tenderised chicken breasts then dredge each side with the flour. In a large frying pan, heat the butter and olive oil on high. When butter is fully melted, lay 2 of the floured breasts into the hot pan. Let fry for about 3 minutes then flip and repeat. When both sides are golden brown, remove from pan and set in a foil lined baking dish. Repeat this with the next 2 chicken breasts. Place all cooked chicken breasts into the warm oven, uncovered, while you make the sauce.
Using the same unwashed large frying pan the chicken was fried in, add the mushrooms and shallots and sauté on high for 2 minutes or till soft. Pour in the chicken stalk and lemon juice and stir. Now add the capers, lemon zest and buttermilk or sour cream. Stir constantly for 3 minutes then turn off heat.
Remove the chicken from the oven and serve each breast and steamed potatoes with the sauce ladled over the top. Garnish with the chopped parsley and voila!