Chicken Piccata
Tender chicken escalopes pan-fried in a rich, buttery pan sauce flavoured with lemon, capers, and white wine.
Ingredients
- 2 largeskinless chicken breasts
- fine sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 40 gplain flour
- 2 tbspolive oil
- 60 gunsalted butter, diced and chilled
- 100 mldry white wine
- 100 mlchicken stock
- 3 tbspfresh lemon juice
- 2 tbspcapers, rinsed and drained
- 2 tbspflat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
Method
- Slice each chicken breast horizontally through the middle to make two thin cutlets, then place them between sheets of baking paper and gently bash with a rolling pin to an even thickness of about 5 mm.
- Season the cutlets generously on both sides with salt and black pepper.
- Spread the plain flour over a wide, shallow plate and dredge the chicken pieces in it, shaking off any excess.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and 15 g of the butter in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat.
- Add half the chicken cutlets and fry for 2 to 3 minutes on each side until golden and cooked through, then transfer to a warm plate.
- Add another tablespoon of olive oil and another 15 g of butter to the pan and fry the remaining cutlets, transferring them to the plate once cooked.
- Pour the dry white wine and chicken stock into the hot pan, using a wooden spoon to scrape up all the browned bits from the bottom.
- Bring the liquid to a lively simmer and cook for 3 to 4 minutes until reduced by roughly half.
- Stir in the lemon juice and drained capers, simmering for another minute.
- Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the remaining 30 g of cold butter until melted and the sauce turns glossy and emulsified.
- Return the chicken and any resting juices back to the pan, turning to coat in the sauce.
- Stir through the chopped flat-leaf parsley and serve immediately.