That Italian Staple, Chicken Pickle-otta

Chicken piccata but make it kid friendly.

There’s nothing about this recipe that makes it any more appetizing to preschoolers than a typical chicken piccata — other than that it’s made in a slightly different way than the traditional Italian dish, and that I lie to my children and tell them the capers are actually tiny pickles (which isn’t really a lie, since they’re pickled, even if they’re not Kosher dills).

You’ll need to stock up on butter, but not white wine. And while the recipe calls for any type of small macaroni-style pasta, I recommend salad rotini. It’s like regular rotini but made to hold salad dressing in cold luncheon dishes but it turns out it holds sauce great, too, especially one on the thinner side.

1 to 1 1/2 lb chicken boneless, skinless chicken tenders

Salt and pepper

Olive oil

1/2 cup flour

6 TBSP butter

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/2 cup chicken stock

2 - 3 TBSP capers, unless you really like capers, then use the whole jar like I do

Lay out chicken flat in a single layer in a large Ziploc bag or between two sheets of wax paper and pound thin with a mallet (or a flat rolling pin) until about a 1/4 inch thick. Season with salt and pepper and then coat in the flour.

Heat 2 TBSP of the butter and a bit of olive oil over medium-high heat until the butter begins to look like foam (and is fully melted). Add about half the chicken and saute until lightly browned (about 3-4 minutes depending on your cooktop). Flip the chicken and brown on the other side. Remove those tenders from the pan and onto a separate plate, then add 2 TBSP more of the butter and a bit more olive oil. Wait until that foams and add the second batch of chicken tenders and brown those (this may take less time given that the pan is already hot).

Remove those tenders. Lower the heat and add the lemon juice, chicken stock and capers. Heat to boiling, using a wooden spoon to scrape off whatever brown crusty stuff is still on the bottom of the pan and mix it in with the lemon-stock-capers sauce. Add your chicken back to the pan and lower the heat to a simmer. Simmer your chicken for about five minutes in the sauce (or longer if you, say, need to pick up the living room and get kids who won’t eat this dinner ready for bed).

You’ll want to finish cooking the chicken, but also to reduce the sauce to about half of what it was when you put the chicken in. Once it’s there, take the chicken out, and then you’ll add the last bit of butter.

Stir until the sauce is fully blended and shiny, and then taste it to make sure the sauce is lemony enough for you. You probably won’t need to add salt since the capers are already picked, but taste for it anyway. A tiny pinch of salt will amp up the sauce’s flavor but too much gets…salty.

Pour the sauce over your chicken. Boil some pasta for the side (see package directions AND DON’T FORGET TO ADD A BIT OF SALT TO YOUR PASTA WATER) and serve.

If you really want to be fancy, grate a bit of fresh parmesan cheese over the dish, or add a little parsley for color.

Next week, we’ll up the ante — homemade bolognese.