the joy of cooking: chicken piccata

Tonight Sara and I had the 2002 Red Diamond Shiraz. Since I have previously reviewed the 2001, and this isn't significantly different (I think the '01 was slightly richer), I'm going to talk about food instead.

Sara was still doing work when I got home, so cooking dinner fell to me. A quick inventory revealed my only options were really Matzo Ball Soup and something chicken-based. So I pulled out our trusty copy of The Joy of Cooking and flipped to the poultry section. The first entry under sauteed boneless, skinless chicken sounded good: Chicken Piccata. It's a pretty straight-forward recipe, but I had never made it. Further inventory investigations revealed I had no capers, no lemon and my shallot had gone bad. So I had to make a grocery store trip. I also got some salami and mozzarella cheese, so if I screwed the pooch on the chicken I could still make pizza. :)

I must say, in the end it turned out pretty damn good. Here is what I learned:

• The Joy recipe said it would make 3-4 chicken breasts, but it was really only enough for three. Luckily I only had three.
• When they say saute four minutes on each side, they mean it. I flipped one early out of paranoia, but I was wrong. And I made lots of cuts to see how the inside was doing. However, four minutes on each side was exactly right.
• Three tablespoons of lemon is enough. Don't put four.
• Use this truffle salt instead of regular sea salt. It's awesome.
• Use the minimum amounts of better in the ranges they suggest.

It wasn't the best wine pairing, but it was cheap!