Not-so-guilty pleasures

Guilty pleasures. We all have them.  I got caught up in one of mine tonight (the season finale of a tv show that I am too embarrassed to name….it’s so good though!) which is why this post is so late.  Fortunately chicken piccata is anything but a guilty pleasure. It is an all-around crowd pleaser.  I have made it countless times for Jason and myself. And it’s just as easy to make for 10 people as it is for 2—I even made it for book club a few months ago!

To make it even easier I like to start with chicken cutlets—it takes the need for pounding the chicken breasts out until they are super thin (although that is good if you have some aggression/anger you need to take out on something). You then coat the chicken in flour, an egg and water mixture, and seasoned bread crumbs. Cook in olive oil a minute or two per side and then finish them off in the oven. While the chicken is finishing you make a quick sauce of butter, white wine, and lemon juice. Top the chicken with sauce and fresh parsley and there you go!

Tonight I decided to make a spinach salad to go with it. Given that we still had a few extremely ripe strawberries left from last week’s trip to the farmers’ market, I threw those in there along with some hearts of palm and walnuts. We were originally going to have chicken picatta last night and I was going to use some of the leftover chicken on this salad as the entrée tonight. But since I was not up to cooking last night and I knew my strawberries wouldn’t be able to last much longer I decided to serve them together. It worked well--  the strawberries in the salad were a nice complement to the lemony chicken.

A perfect meal to (almost) end the week on!

Chicken Piccata
Adapted from Ina Garten

Ingredients:
1 package of chicken cutlets (or chicken breasts, pounded thin)
½ cup of all-purpose flour
1 egg
½ cup of seasoned bread crumbs
2 TBL butter
½ cup dry white wine
2 lemons
4 TBL fresh chopped parsley
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

1.Preheat oven to 400. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil lightly coated with cooking spray.
2.Mix the egg with 1 TBL of water and beat lightly. Place the flour, egg mixture, and bread crumbs in separate containers (a plate or shallow bowl would work best). Season flour with salt and pepper.
3.Heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet (you want a thin layer to completely cover the bottom of the pan) over medium heat. Meanwhile, dredge the chicken pieces first in the flour, then in the egg mixture, and finally in the bread crumbs (be sure both sides are covered).
4.In a couple of batches, cook chicken in olive oil 2 minutes per side until golden brown. Place on baking sheet. You may need to add additional oil to the pan between batches. Once the chicken is browned, place baking sheet in the oven to finish cooking about 6-8 minutes.
5.Meanwhile, wipe the skillet clean and return to heat. Melt butter and add white wine and juice from the two lemons. Add lemons to the skillet. Simmer until sauce has slightly reduced.
6.Spoon sauce over chicken and serve with fresh parsley.

Spinach Salad with Strawberries and Hearts of Palm
Inspired by a recipe from Paula Deen

Ingredients:
2-3 cups baby spinach
½ cup sliced strawberries
¼ cup chopped walnuts
2 whole hearts of palm, sliced (I used the canned variety)
1 teaspoon Grey Poupon mustard
2 TBL lemon juice
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

1.Add spinach, strawberries, walnuts, and hearts of palm to a bowl.
2.In a small bowl, mix mustard and lemon juice together. Slowly whisk in olive oil until emulsified. Add salt and pepper to taste
3.Toss salad with vinaigrette and serve.