Hen Piccata – A Couple Cooks

This rooster piccata recipe is an basic Italian American dish that’s easy and bursting with taste! Tender rooster cutlets are pan-fried to golden perfection, then bathed in a vibrant lemon butter sauce.

Right here’s a basic dish that impresses each time: rooster piccata! Tender, golden-brown rooster cutlets are bathed in a vibrant lemon-butter sauce with pops of briny capers. This basic Italian American dish has captured hearts and stomachs world wide, and it’s an enormous favourite over right here. Don’t be intimidated by its fancy identify; this rooster piccata recipe is surprisingly easy to make at dwelling! On this publish, you’ll uncover:

• Ideas and tips: Discover ways to obtain completely cooked rooster and a flavorful sauce with our easy-to-follow directions.
• Aspect dish concepts: Discover the proper aspect dishes to enrich your rooster piccata, from fluffy rice to flavorful pasta.
• Variations: Discover scrumptious twists on the basic recipe, like utilizing several types of meat or including distinctive elements to the sauce.
• Recipe: Or, leap proper to the recipe to get began!

What’s rooster piccata, anyway?

Hen piccata is a dish the place rooster cutlets are pounded, dredged in flour, pan fried and served with a lemon butter sauce. You would possibly suppose the dish is Italian in origin, nevertheless it seems it’s not a well known conventional dish in Italy! It’s extra doubtless a creation by Italian immigrants that moved to America within the 1930’s and it was initially made with veal, a less expensive protein in these days.

Piccata is a go-to dinner as a result of it’s so versatile: it comes collectively in about 20 minutes and you may range the protein primarily based on what you want or have available. It really works with many varieties of meat and fish, like rooster, veal, salmon, swordfish, scallops or shrimp.

Ideas for butterflying the rooster

Crucial a part of rooster piccata is utilizing rooster cutlets, or you’ll be able to butterfly the breasts your self. Hen breasts are sometimes very thick, making them difficult to cook dinner evenly. Slicing the rooster breast in half horizontally (butterflying it) makes thinner items that cook dinner faster and extra evenly, are simpler to eat, and are higher seasoned.

You should buy a rooster breast already butterflied, which is marked on the bundle as butterflied or “cutlets”. When you purchase common rooster breasts, you’ll be able to butterfly them your self:

• Place your hand excessive of the rooster breast. Use a pointy knife to fastidiously slice the breast horizontally, leaving the sting intact so it will probably open up like a ebook.
• Unfold the rooster breast, then minimize alongside the fold to separate the 2 halves (every half is a cutlet).
• For rooster piccata, cowl the rooster with plastic wrap and frivolously pound the rooster with a mallet or heavy pan to make it an excellent 1/4-inch thickness.

Learn how to make rooster piccata: an summary

This rooster piccata recipe is fast and easy to make. As a result of the rooster is pounded to an excellent thickness, it cooks extraordinarily rapidly. Right here’s an summary of the method (or leap to the recipe under):

1. Put together the rooster: Make rooster cutlets (breasts sliced in half horizontally) and use a mallet or heavy skillet to pound them to an excellent 1/4” thickness.
2. Season the rooster: Sprinkle the rooster on all sides with the kosher salt, black pepper and garlic powder. Dredge the rooster breasts in flour unfold on a plate, shaking off the surplus.
3. Pan fry: Add the olive oil to a big skillet and warmth over medium warmth. Add the rooster and cook dinner for 3 to five minutes per aspect, till browned on either side.
4. Make the sauce: In the identical skillet, cut back the warmth to low and add minced garlic and capers. Cook dinner about 1 minute, then stir in lemon zest, lemon juice, and white wine or rooster inventory. Carry to a boil, then cut back to a simmer and add the butter and cream (if utilizing). Simmer 1 minute, then return the rooster to the pan and simmer for two minutes.
5. Serve: Take away the rooster to a serving plate and prime with sauce and chopped parsley.

Notes on the piccata sauce

Each dwelling cook dinner or chef makes their piccata sauce barely in a different way. Listed below are just a few notes about this sauce and some substitutes you may make if desired:

• White wine vs rooster broth: We like this sauce with white wine base, which provides tangy, crisp notes to the sauce. When you don’t need to open a bottle, rooster broth or vegetable broth work too.
• Heavy cream: The normal rooster piccata sauce usually doesn’t use heavy cream. Nevertheless, including a touch offers the sauce a creamier physique (in any other case the sauce is evident). We like including the cream, nevertheless it’s not crucial for taste.
• Capers: Don’t, we repeat, don’t omit the capers on this recipe! They add briny, salty pops that make this a standout recipe.

Sides to accompany this recipe

What to serve with rooster piccata? This basic Italian American dish goes properly with many alternative sides, like rice, pasta, inexperienced beans or a crisp salad. Listed below are just a few concepts:

• Rice: Strive white rice or lemon rice
• Pasta: Go for garlic butter noodles, angel hair pasta, orzo, or any of those pasta aspect dishes
• Inexperienced beans: Strive inexperienced beans almondine or haricot verts
• Salad: Make chopped salad, kale salad, apple salad, or these salad recipes
• Broccoli or broccolini: Strive roasted broccoli, Parmesan broccoli, roasted broccolini, or pan fried broccolini
• Potatoes: Go for our greatest mashed potatoes, garlic mashed potatoes, or garlic roasted potatoes