Thought it was time to channel my inner Italian and cook up something simple and rich (note: the only Italian in my past is perhaps all the lovely Italian red wines and pancetta that I have enjoyed over the years, but I think it still counts....there's been a lot of red wine.) We don't tend to do too many Italian-style dishes for some reason, although I used to many years ago when I was single, living on my own in a bachelor apartment, with my overweight cat named Ziggy Piggy, on the less-than-ideal side of town (there once was an armed hostage situation just down the street, the drunk guy in the apartment above me nearly flooded my apartment, the drunk guy below me set his apartment on fire, and how can I forget the short, stinky guy with the bad comb-over in the elevator smoking underneath the No Smoking sign)...ah, the good old days (?) I did make some lovely meals on my own such as "Pollo Cacciatore alla Toscana" and "Pollo alla Salvia" as well as a few other traditional Italian meals from a lovely little cookbook called "Rustic Italian Cooking" by Kathleen Sloan. I'm sure my choice of dishes had nothing to do with the fact that wine was on the list of ingredients thereby giving me the perfect excuse for buying a bottle for the "recipes", and you know I don't like to waste things soooo ..... hmmm...seems kinda sad when I say it out loud, but at the time I quite enjoyed it.
As I was saying, I felt the need to try out a nice traditional Italian dish again - I've been saving this particular recipe for awhile, trying to convince my husband that he would LOVE capers (really, I think I've been waiting for a recipe that includes capers so that I have an excuse to eat them again.) It's been a bit of a challenge convincing him to give them a try - not sure why he's been holding out, they really are sort of innocent looking and quite mild tasting...maybe they weren't a staple in the Maritime diet back in the 70's-80's???
This is a nice little recipe that hits the mark with my style of cooking: a relatively short ingredients list that includes basic staples that I have in my kitchen already (that jar of capers as been waiting in the fridge patiently), a fairly easy method of preparation that requires very little (chopping) skill, uses only a few pans which makes for an easy clean-up, makes a wonderfully rich and satisfying meal, and most importantly...it calls for a bottle of wine... ok maybe that's not the most important part but it sure swayed my opinion, I realize that could have been the alcohol talking.
Darrell paired my dish with a "Darrell Original Recipe" of Smashed Sweet Potatoes with fresh grated ginger. Worked very well together, kinda like us...awwwwww, so sweet.
Cheers! ... or should I say Bueno gusto! (I stole that from an Italian cookbook since the only Italian I know is Amarone, Valpolicello, Lemoncello... you get the idea....)
Chicken Piccata
from Cooking Light Jan/Feb 2012
Hands on time: 31 minutes
Total time: 31 minutes
Ingredients
4 (6 oz) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
2 ounces (or about 1/2 cup) all-purpose flour, divided
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 1/2 tbsps butter, divided
2 tbsps olive oil, divided
1/4 cup finely chopped shallots
4 medium garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/2 cup dry white wine ( enjoy the rest while cooking!)
3/4 cup fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth, divided
2 tbsps fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 tbsps drained capers
3 tbsps coarsely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Directions
Place each chicken breast half between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and pound to 1/2 inch thickness using a meat mallet or heavy frying pan (go ahead, take out your frustrations on it.) Place 1 tsp flour in a small bowl, and place remaining flour into a shallow dish. Sprinkle both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper, then dredge the chicken through the flour, coating all sides and gently shaking off any excess.
Melt 1 tbsp of butter into a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once melted, add 1 tbsp of olive oil, swirling to evenly coat the pan. Add chicken to pan and saute each side for about 4 minutes or until a nice light brown colour (and cooked throughout.) Remove chicken from the pan, keep warm.
Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil, swirling to coat, add shallots, sauteing for about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute or so. Stir constantly to prevent burning of the garlic. Add the white wine, bring to a boil and scrape the tasty brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Cook until almost all of the liquid evaporates, stirring occasionally. Add 1/4 cup of chicken broth to pan, bring to a boil. Cook until liquid is reduced by half. Stir in flour mixture, cook for 1 minute or until slightly thick, stirring frequently. Remove pan from heat, add in remaining 1 1/2 tbsps butter, lemon juice and drained capers. Place chicken breast on serving plate, top with sauce from pan and sprinkle with chopped fresh parsley.
Double Baked Sweet Potatoes
2 large sweet potatoes
Fresh ginger root
Butter
Salt and pepper
Preheat the oven up to 375. Place the potatoes on the center rack and roast until the flesh is soft. Take them out of the oven and let cool. Cut the top of the potatoes off, scoop out the centre and place in a mixing bowl. Add butter, salt and pepper and freshly grated ginger and mix. We keep our ginger root in the freezer as it is much easier to grate up when it is frozen. I have made this dish several times and sometimes I am able to take the mixed potato mixture and place it back in the hollowed out potatoes. If you cannot do that, you can place the mixture in an oven safe dish. Bake the mixed potatoes for another 15 minutes and serve. If you want to jazz it up a bit, you can add shredded cheese on top or make a mixture of shredded cheese and panko or bread crumbs. If you place that on top of the mixture, after 15 minutes you will have this lovely, crunchy topping.
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