Does anyone have a good recipe for Piccata or Scallopini?

[Urania93]

i made a fast research on google, and it seams really similar to our scaloppine.
we do it in a really simple way, also i am able to do it (and i'm not a so good cook).
we use slices of meat (usually veal, but it is also good with chicken), then you pass them in the flour since all the surface is covered with it. then you put them in a pan with some oil and\or butter and start to cook them at high heat (turning them once) since the slices are browned on both side. then you add an half glass (a little glass) of white wine, and you leave it on fire until the most of wine evaporate. sometime we also had an herb, we call it "prezzemolo" (probably the english for it is parsley, but i'm not sure).
the result is something like this
http://www.lavoraresulgarda.altervis...ondi_carne.jpg

it's a really easy recipe (i can prepare it in less than 30 min) and it tastes really good. i like to eat it with potatoes or puree.

[lubby]

Originally Posted by eureka1

NO CREAM! Don't know where they got that from. The worst part of making it is pounding the chicken breasts.

I take the large boneless breasts and use my filet knife. I never pound them.

[Supplies]

Originally Posted by eureka1

NO CREAM! Don't know where they got that from. The worst part of making it is pounding the chicken breasts.

I have the supermarket butcher pound my chicken , then I trim them at home.

[tjarado]

Originally Posted by MidwesternBookWorm

Another forum member named kelsie shared her recipe for Chicken Piccata with me several years ago, and it has been in regular rotation in our meal repertoire ever since. It goes together quickly (about 20 minutes) and is absolutely wonderful stuff.

Chicken Piccata (serves 4)

4 boneless chicken cutlets, rinsed, patted dry and pounded between plastic wrap to 1/8" thick--dusted in flour & s/p
2 T olive oil
1/4 C dry white wine
1 t minced garlic
1/2-3/4 C chicken broth
2 T fresh lemon juice
1 T capers
2 T unsalted butter
Fresh lemon slices
Fresh parsley to garnish

I assemble all the ingredients in measuring cups next to the stove

Coat a sauté pan with olive oil over med. high heat. Sauté chicken 2-3 minutes on both sides. Transfer cutlets to plate & pour off fat. Deglaze pan with wine, add garlic and simmer until garlic is translucent and liquid is nearly evaporated 2-3 minutes. Add broth, lemon juice, capers. Return cutlets to pan and cook 1 min. each side. Transfer to a warm plate.
Finish sauce with butter and lemon slices, pour over cutlets and top with parsley.
...

Good recipe except
1. I cut the chicken breasts in half rather than pound them
2. I don't use capers - but TONS of wonderful artichoke hearts and mushrooms, whole, halved or quartered - it provides the vegetable component and a lovely textural side-note.
3. NO chicken broth - ALL white wine.

Of course, I love the tangy-ness of this recipe as you can tell. I even increase the lemon juice but the beauty of the dish is it's extreme flexibility as you can hardly ruin it by varying the proportions.
Just make sure you have a thickening agent - I use the excess flour from the dredging step to thicken it up a tad.
But cream? NEVER!

[gentlearts]

Thanks all. I will try some of your recipes. It makes perfect sense that lemon juice would curdle cream, and I don't know why it worked for the PW recipe.

[bg7]

Originally Posted by gentlearts

I made the Pioneer Woman's version tonight and it was not very good.
Chicken, dredged in flour, salt and pepper. Check
Fresh mushrooms. Check
Butter, wine (Chardonnay), lemon juice, capers, chicken broth and heavy cream. Check.

It seems like it should have been very straightforward, but what happened is the cream curdled and the taste was very sour. I have had it in restaurants and liked it, but I am not sure what I did wrong.

Forget the mushrooms, wine (I'm a lover of wine in cooking but not necs. here) and certainly forget the cream.

Make sure you have plenty of freshly squeezed lemon juice. Lightly brown your flour-coated whacked-flat veal or chicken, add a little broth and continue to cook with all the lemon juice and let reduce a bit.Throw in capers when nearly done. Garnish with a little Italian parsley. Its a very straightforward dish.

You can use the mushrooms, wine and cream to make a nice sauce for another day of the week...

But note that zingy taste is the point of the dish. None of the recipes here use the amount of lemon juice I'm talking about! This dish cooks very quickly due to the thinness of the meat, and that keeps the flavors fresh.