How to Make Chicken Piccata. An Easy Recipe for One or For a Family

An Italian classic and a very easy dish that tastes great and brings a lot of citrus sunshine to a winter kitchen, and although it’s a relatively simple dish to prepare, it looks and tastes quite elegant – definitely interesting enough for entertaining.

A piccata sauce is a lemon caper sauce that goes very well with veal cutlets, chicken (as called for here) and pork tenderloin or thinly sliced loin cutlets. Feel free to substitute pork or veal for the chicken as desired, following the recipe as called for below.

Although this is great as a family meal, it’s easy enough that it fits the bill when I’m dining alone (and although I still might want to eat well, I won’t want to go to to much trouble to get there!)

Chicken Piccata (for 1 – multiply the recipe as needed)

• 1 Chicken breast
• Flour for dredging
• 1 Tbls of capers
• A quarter lemon
• About 2 Tbls of dry white wine (a good glug into the pan)
• A couple of Tbls of water (actually, if you’ve got chicken stock on hand, use stock instead, but don’t worry about opening a can to get a spoonful, water works fine as well!)
• 1 tsp butter and flour, mixed together to form a paste
• A little fresh parsley, chopped (1 Tbls)
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Take your chicken breast and cut it lengthwise into 3 or 4 flat pieces, each about ¼ inches in thickness. Sprinkle salt and pepper on each chicken slice and then dredge each slice in a little flour on a plate.
2. Heat a fry pan over high and when hot add in a Tbls or so of olive oil. Add in the chicken slices and sauté for about 1 or 2 minutes on each side, or until just barely cooked through.
3. Take the chicken out of the fry pan and reserve and add in the wine, water, the juice from your quarter lemon and the capers. Working quickly, scrape the bottom of the pan to release any browned bits.
4. As soon as the sauce reaches a boil, whisk in the butter/flour paste, and cook stirring, for about another minute, or until thickened to your liking.
5. Season the sauce with salt and pepper.
6. Toss the chicken slices into the sauce and then plate, serving topped with chopped fresh parsley.

That’s it, an elegant meal for one that can be made in about 10 minutes, start to finish.