Chicken Piccata

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Admittedly! This is not actually Chicken Piccata, but it's how I adapted my Chicken Piccata to make it easier. It still has all the same amazing flavors so don't be mad.

I cook the chicken first, but I like to dice anything I have to before making the chicken so it's less clean up later on. Recently I've been using a garlic crusher because I've been too lazy to actually mince the garlic but in the past, garlic would be minced first.

From there, I first zest my lemon into a small bowl and half it once that's done. The juice also goes into the small bowl with the zest. Most recipes have specific recipes for this, I rule by the more the merrier. A trick with lemons as well is to roll them before cutting them. I don't know if this actually works but I heard you'll get more juice if you do this. I've never had a problem juicing a lemon.

After that, I dice an onion like normal. I tend to slice into the onion first so once you slice it, most of the pieces will be diced in some way. I've heard a few tricks for making onions more bearable, I'm not sure if anything really works. I've kept water near by and felt that was immediately a rumor. I've also heard that if you apologize before, it won't be as bad. I followed this a lot in college. Someone also told me that if you don't cut the eye, you won't cry. I used to believe that a lot more. The last one I've heard is that if you keep an onion in the fridge, it won't be as bad. I have yet to try that out.

After everything's cut, I bring out my chicken. For this in particular, I do like to dredge in flour first. I keep seasonings pretty tame for the flour so it can compliment the lemon and capers later. I'll add salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder to the flour before mixing it up. I add enough so that you can tell it's seasoned flour when you're looking at it. If you have to guess, you have to add more. I then add my chicken, pat flour in, and shake all the excess off. This is important! If you don't shake off excess flour it will later go into your sauce and make it thick and gluey. Not enjoyable.

It's also important to make sure your pan is heating to medium heat when you're starting your chicken. That way, immediately once it's floured (and shaken!) you can add it to the pan. This way it really creates a crisp on the chicken instead of soaking in and becoming gluey. You want the pan to already be hot when adding the chicken, not heating.

Flip maybe 5ish minutes in. Each side should be somewhat crispy brown, but it won't look like crispy skin or fried chicken. I personally don't temp my chicken. I think it makes holes for the juice to go out and you end up with drier chicken. My trick for telling when chicken is done by how much give it has when you poke it. If it has more give, it's not ready. It it only gives a little, it's ready or close to. If there's no give at all, it's overdone. It's also important to remember that all meat continues to cook once you take it off the heat or remove it from the oven.

Once the chicken is done, remove it from the stove and put it to the side. To keep it warm, I put it on a plate in the microwave (obviously without microwaving it). Technically, you could start the orzo in a different pan but like I said, I value less cleanup.

For the orzo, I add oil to the pan again and keep it on medium. Once heated, I add my onion and stir until translucent. At that point, I add my garlic and cook until fragrant. From there, I add the orzo and toast it with the onion and garlic. Feel free to add more oil at this point if you feel you need.

Once the orzo has heated, add chicken broth and the lemon juice & zest, season with s&p, bring to a boil, then down to a simmer. Stir occasionally so it doesn't get stuck to the bottom of the pain. When the chicken broth has almost completely evaporated/been absorbed, give it a try. If it's still tasting a little too al dente for your liking, add some more chicken broth and try again once that's absorbed. Do this until you feel it's ready. At that point, add some heavy cream stir in. Once that's combined, add your capers. At this point, you can also add your chicken back in or keep it separate.

Tada! The best not-chicken-piccata chicken piccata. Recipe below!

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Ingredients:

• Chicken breasts

• flour

• orzo

• white onion, diced

• 1 clove garlic, minced

• chicken broth

• capers

• 1 lemon

  • zest and juice

• seasonings: s&p, garlic powder, onion powder.

Directions:

• butterfly chicken breasts, dredge in seasoned flour and cook on medium to medium-high heat. They should be golden brown on each side.

• add onion and cook on medium heat until translucent. Right before they're done, add the garlic until fragrant.

• add half box of orzo to the pan, warm with onions and garlic.

• add twice as much chicken broth than you would need to cover the orzo. Add lemon juice and zest at this time. Bring to a simmer and cover.

• stir every couple minutes to make sure the orzo isn't sticking to the bottom. Add more chicken broth as needed. Stir in capers to taste

• Serve with chicken.