Ayisha’s Chicken Piccata with Angel Hair Pasta
Serves 2-4 depending on the size of your plates
- One package fresh boneless skinless chicken breasts (usually come three to a package do not use the kind in a bag you get in the freezer section, they are full of preservatives and sodium and won’t be near as good!).
- 1 lb angel hair pasta
- 2 whole lemons
- 2 small or one large shallot sliced (optional) you can substitute ¼ cup of sliced red onion if you can’t find shallots.
- 2 cloves of minced garlic
- 4 Tbsp butter (yes butter not margarine, it took me years to figure this one out)
- 1 large egg
- (optional) Capers, drained -avoid the really large ones, they can be a bit bitter
- 2 cups and 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
- 2 cups of water
- 2 cups of chicken or vegetable stock
- 2 tsps Lawrys seasoning salt
- Salt and pepper
- Vegetable oil
- Plastic wrap
Chicken:
Place one chicken breast between two large pieces of plastic wrap and pound flat until about ½ - ¾ inch thick. Until they are basically a uniform thickness. Repeat this process for remaining chicken breasts. After they have been pounded cut each breast in half
Season chicken with salt and pepper set aside. Break egg into a bowl and add a few tablespoons of water and scramble. Add seasoning salt and 2 cups of the flour (reserving 2 tbsp for sauce) to a large zip-top bag or deep dish. Add vegetable oil to large skillet and heat over medium heat. Dip the chicken breasts one at a time into the egg wash (letting excess drip back into bowl), and then roll into the flour until well coated. Repeat for remaining chicken breasts.
Add chicken to hot oil without overcrowding (larger skillets may hold three or four pieces). Cook on first side without moving until golden brown 5-7 minutes, turn over and cook on remaining side for an additional 5-7 minutes. Time will vary depending on the type of skillet and stove, but the chicken should be completely cooked at this point Place chicken on baking sheet lined with paper towels and place in warm oven (150 degrees or less).
Sauce:
Zesting lemons – if you have a microplane, run the lemon skin gently across the plane only taking off the yellow skin (not the white pith). Or do the same on the small holes of a box grater. If you don’t have a microplane, you can use a paring knife and peel the skin and add the peels into the sauce and remove them at the end.
Place butter in large skillet over medium, and heat until mostly melted (don’t let it brown!) Add shallot cook until soft about 1 minute add lemon zest and garlic allow to cook about another 30 seconds until fragrant (yummy). Whisk remaining 2 tbsps of flour into skillet and cook for about a minute. Whisk stock and water into mixture until lumps are gone, and cook about 4 minutes or until desired thickness (sort of like a gravy) is reached. Remove from heat, squeeze juice of two lemons into sauce add salt and pepper to taste, whisk one more time to combine. Stir in a palm-full of capers (do not add liquid from jar it is super salty and bitter but don’t rinse them either).
Cook Pasta according to package instructions angel hair only takes a couple of minutes. Drain pasta add a small amount of sauce to pasta to keep from sticking. Place chicken and pasta on plate drizzling desired amount of sauce across both. ENJOY!!!
Let me know how you like it guys!!
