Chicken Piccata Caponata

An American-Italian classic recipe perfect for spring with a little twist.  We take your classic comfort Lemon Piccata Chicken recipe and add a bit of our Sicilian Bruschetta Caponata Relish to the pan sauce.  It's lemony, white wine-y and buttery but with a little savory Italian tomato eggplant and caper relish in the mix.  Yummo, this recipe is a "winner winner chicken dinner". {and it's easy}

Chicken Piccata Caponata

Ingredients:

1.5 lb Boneless Chicken Breasts butterflied (cut in half lengthwise)

1/2 cup flour

4 Tbs Parmesan Cheese (freshly grated - I used Belgioioso store brand)

Salt and Pepper

4 Tbs Light Olive Oil (which is better for frying, not Extra Virgin because it burns easily)

4 Tbs Butter

1/2 cup Chicken Stock

1/2 cup Dry White Wine

Juice 1 lemon

1/3 cup Wozz! Bruschetta Caponata

Lemon slices for garnish

Fresh chopped parsley for garnish

Chicken Piccata Caponata Method:

Preheat oven to 225 degrees F

Butterfly the chicken breast (cut in half lengthwise). If necessary lightly beat them out with a meat mallet to a more uniform thickness.

Rinse and pat dry chicken breasts. Use one tablespoon of parmesan and sprinkle evenly over both sides of chicken cutlets with a pinch of salt.

Mix together the flour and remaining grated parmesan along with a good pinch of salt and pepper.  Dredge the season chicken cutlets thoroughly in the flour mixture, until well coated, shake off excess flour.

Heat olive oil and 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet on medium high heat. Add half of the chicken pieces, do not crowd the pan. Brown well on each side, about 3 minutes per side. Remove the chicken from the pan and reserve to a plate.  

Add a bit more olive oil (and butter if you like) to the pan and cook the other breasts in the same manner, remove from pan. Place the breasts on a rack on a roasting pan (or place on a sheet pan with parchment paper) and keep warm in a 225°F oven while you prepare the sauce.  

On medium high heat in same skillet, add the chicken stock, white wine, lemon juice, and Wozz! Bruschetta Caponata to the pan. Use a spatula to scrape up the browned bits. Bring the sauce to a low simmer and remove from heat.  ***If there are a lot of burnt oil bits in your pan from frying the chicken pieces, you may want to wipe out the pan a little bit with a thick paper towel before deglazing it to make your sauce. Most of the time the brown bits in the pan add a heap of delicious flavor to your sauce but if there are burnt bits  rather than brown bits from frying in the oil they can add some bitterness to the sauce so best to maybe partially wipe out any burnt bits in your pan and discard before making pan sauce***

Whisk in the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter to richen and thicken the sauce.  

Plate the chicken and serve with the sauce poured over the chicken. Sprinkle with parsley and slices of lemon to garnish.