Chicken Piccata with capers

I must say that I am blessed with a husband that will eat anything I put in front of him.   He is never critical of what I make and eats with a grateful heart.   Well I guess that is pretty smart on his part since the extent of his cooking skills is microwaving frozen burritos and a can of chili!   All kidding aside I am very fortunate that he appreciates my cooking and tells me often.   It just motivates me to try new things.

Today's recipe is Chicken Piccata with capers.  We love this recipe and it is so easy to make.   I have also made this with artichokes in it but today I left them out.  This recipe is for two so you will have to make adjustments if you are feeding more.  

Chicken Piccata

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts


flour for dredging
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 lemon
1 cup chicken broth
1 T capers
1T butter
1T olive oil

Place one chicken breast in a large zip lock bag (squeezing out the air)

Take your meat pounder (what is the name of that thing anyway?) and gently pound the chicken breast to about 1/2" thick.   Remove to a plate and repeat with the other chicken breast.

On separate plate put 1/2 cup flour, salt & pepper (you could also use lemon pepper) and mix well.
Dredge each chicken breast on both sides and set aside.

In skillet melt butter and add olive oil until hot.   Place the chicken breasts in the hot skillet and cook until brown on both sides.  Be careful not to over cook since it is so thin.   It should take no more than 3-5 minutes to brown the meat.   To the pan add the juice of one lemon and the chicken broth.  You can also add the zest of the lemon to the pan as well.   Cover and simmer chicken for about 10 - 15 minutes.   Add the capers at the end to heat through.

I happen to like the tartness of the lemon so I have added the juice of 2 lemons (it was a bit much) but most will prefer using just the one lemon.   You can also simmer the juiced lemon with the chicken to add even more lemony flavor.

I served it with steamed broccoli, roasted red potatoes with garlic and rosemary (Simply Potatoes) and a small salad of mixed greens, cherry tomatoes, fresh basil, feta cheese and dressed it with a lemon vinegrette. We topped the meal off with a piece of that yummy Harvest Apple Cake I made yesterday.

Harvest Apple Cake

Over the past several years I have discovered a new love and that is cooking.  I am by no means a "fancy schmancy" cook.  I devour anything Food Network and I love to try my hand at re creating some of the great mouth watering meals the cooks and chefs prepare.  I am also a HUGE fan of Pinterest and get lots of ideas from that site as well.   

As much as I love to cook, baking is not my favorite thing to do.  I don't like the mess involved or the clean up afterwards but I do have a few simple favorites that I will share with you.  

This particular scrumptious cake recipe I got from a friend of mine many years ago.  I decided with the onset of fall that I would dust off the recipe and make it for my hubby.  He just told me that he needed to start watching his waistline because none of his pants fit him anymore and he felt like a stuffed sausage!  I don't think this cake is going to help matters any but enjoy it anyway.   I used to double the glaze recipe (so yummy) but it was so rich that it made my eyes bleed!   Time to get out them elastic waisted sweat pants and indulge!   Oh and add a big dollop of whipped topping to make it even better.

HARVEST APPLE CAKE

1 ¼ cup vegetable oil

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp vanilla

3 cups flour

3 cups apples (peeled and cubed)

1 cup chopped walnuts (or pecans)

1 cup raisins (or craisins)

Blend oil, sugar, eggs, salt, vanilla & 2 cups of the flour until smooth.

In another bowl coat apples with 1 cup flour, raisins and walnuts.

Fold apple mixture into batter.  This will be nearly as thick as cookie dough.

Preheate oven to 350 deg.

Grease bundt pan well and sprinkle a little flour in pan.  Pour batter into bundt pan and bake 1 ½ hrs or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Remove from oven and prepare glaze. 

Glaze

In a saucepan combine:  ½ cup buttermilk, 1 stick butter, 1 cup sugar ¼ tsp vanilla ½ tsp baking soda and bring to a boil, stirring constantly for 2 minutes.  Mixture will foam up.  Pour liquid over the top of the cake and let set for four hours before removing cake from the pan.  NOTE:  I run a knife around the edges of the cake so it allows the glaze to reach the bottom of cake pan.