Chicken Piccata with Pasta and Mushrooms

Chicken Piccata is one of my favorite dishes. It is basically a recipe containing chicken cutlets, capers, lemon, and white wine. I found some lovely sounding recipes, at Simply Recipes , and this one from Bon Appetit.

As I said above, chicken piccata is usually made with chicken cutlets. If you are scrutinizing my photo, you may be thinking that it looks like an awfully big chicken cutlet! It is. I just go with boneless chicken breasts. I can never find cutlets, and I'm too lazy to butterfly it, or cut it in half. Bonus...if you look at the link above for Simply Recipes, Elise has pictures on how to butterfly the chicken breasts. This recipe is modified from the January/February issue of Eating Well magazine. The original recipe can be found here.

Chicken Piccata
(adapted from Eating Well)
Serves 4

6 ounces whole-wheat angel hair pasta
1/3 cup all-purpose flour, divided
2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
4 chicken breasts, skinless, boneless
3 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 8-ounce package mushrooms, sliced
3 large cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup white wine
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup of shredded parmesan cheese

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add pasta and cook until just tender, 4 to 6 minutes or according to package directions. Drain and rinse.

2. Meanwhile, whisk 5 teaspoons flour and broth in a small bowl until smooth. Place the remaining flour in a shallow dish. Season chicken with 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper and dredge both sides in the flour. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add the chicken and brown on both sides for around 2 minutes per side. After the second side has browned, reduce the heat to medium and cover the pan. Let cook for approximately 8 minutes, until chicken is cooked through. Remove chicken to platter and keep warm.

3. Heat the remaining 1 teaspoon oil in the pan over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring, until they release their juices and begin to brown, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Add garlic and wine to the pan and cook until reduced by half, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the reserved broth-flour mixture, lemon juice and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring, until the sauce is thickened, about 5 minutes.

4. Stir in parsley, capers, butter and the reserved mushrooms. Measure out 1/2 cup of the mushroom sauce. Toss the pasta in the pan with the remaining sauce. Serve the pasta topped with the chicken and the reserved sauce. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

This was good, and very satisfying. I do think that it would have been better with the cutlets. Cutlets = more crispy edge. More crispy edge = good. So, next time I will try to not be lazy, and butterfly the breasts.