Chicken Piccata

We don't really go out to eat a lot and if we do, we don't do Italian unless we head towards our favorite place in the North End. One evening we met up with my in-laws and friends of theirs at a local place called Peppercorns. Peppercorns isn't in the North End but is located in Weymouth on Route 18. I ordered their Chicken Piccata dish and found a new dish to try for dinner. 

Bob and I eat a lot of chicken so we are always looking for new recipes. I made this dish for a first time sticking to the recipe I got from Bob's uncle John. I fell in love with the recipe because it was fast and easy to make and was delicious. At one time, I was making this dish once a week because it was so easy to do even after working all day and getting home late.  I've changed the original recipe a little but decided to type up the information given to me by Uncle John. I've added a few suggestions at the end, if you want to try them. Enjoy!

Ingredients: skinless, boneless chicken breast, sea salt, fresh ground black pepper, flour, unsalted butter, Sauvignon blanc or another tart white wine, chicken broth, fresh lemon juice, capers

Instructions: (1) Pound chicken breast between parchment paper or plastic wrap until 1/4" thick. Sprinkle with salt and pepper (both sides) and lightly dredge in flour; shake off excess flour. (2) Melt butter in large skillet over med-high heat. Add cutlets to pan and saute for 5 minutes. Remove and repeat with remaining cutlets. (3) Place cutlets on plate to drip before adding wine to the pan. Scrap up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan and cook down. Add broth and simmer until mixture is reduced. Stir in lemon juice and capers and place chicken back in pan mixture. Cook for a few minutes. (4) Sprinkle broth mixture over the top of the chicken. Garnish with tarragon or parsley or thyme.

* Serve over wheat pasta, with veggies or a mixed green salad, or with garlic mashed potatoes.
* I use some olive oil with the butter during step 2.
* I usually add more white wine, a little chicken broth, and more lemon juice during step 3.

Busy, Busy Busy!

The fall started out beautiful with an Indian summer and then it appeared that winter would be approaching much sooner than planned with October getting extremely cold. This made Saturdays at the Hingham market a fun time. Nothing like a hot cup of tea or coffee from Redeye Roasters,  a bag of popcorn from Margie's Sweet Surrender, and fellowship with other vendors to pass a cold, windy Saturday. The market ended the weekend before Thanksgiving, which gave us time to catch a breather before baking tons of pumpkin and apple pies along with pumpkin breads and other delicious sweets for Thanksgiving feasts.

My favorite time of the year is Christmas. I love the music, the food, the smells, the lights, etc. We decided to take a portion of all orders placed between 11/25 and 1/1/12 and donate the proceeds to St. Jude Children's Hospital. When we first started the business, Bob had the idea of doing "Cookies for Kids".  Donations would be given to different charities and non-profit organizations that helped children. We were blessed this season with your generous support and were able to donate $300 to St. Jude's. We are hoping to give donations to worthy causes in the year to come.

 We developed several different types of Christmas cookies for platters this season. One cookie that became a sudden hit was the Peppermint Macarons. These are french style cookies that have a filling that can be buttercream or frosting or jelly surrounded by two light dyed-red meringue-like wafers. We decided to roll the macaron edges in crushed peppermints to give it that holiday feel. I was told that these cookies need to be offered every Christmas. We also made some Almond Scandinavian bars which were absolutely delicious.  We had a call for mini-cakes. Instead of one cake to serve guests, the mini-cakes allow for guests to have options. A few mini-cakes we did this season were the Chocolate Peppermint cake and the Eggnog Cake. Both cakes were a hit with our taste testers and added to our product line. Red Velvet, Peppermint, and Eggnog cupcakes were also added to our product line. The Holiday season kept us pretty busy up until New Years Eve.

The second half of 2011 sure did go by fast. January is usually a slow time for us because people are sticking to their new year's resolutions or are cutting out sweets. This time of the year allows for us to experiment with different kinds of recipes, change a few recipes that didn't work before, and just have fun baking in the kitchen. I'm going to try to post a few recipes a week during January; that's try to post. Between a full-time job and experimenting, it might only be a recipe a week.