Today (January 18, 2010) I learned the most valuable life lesson... how to make “Chicken Piccata”

Today (January 18, 2010) I learned the most valuable life lesson... how to make “Chicken Piccata”

This was one of my greatest life lessons, taught to me by good friend “Miro.”
Chicken Piccata: I know most people are familiar with this dish, but if yer not, it’s boneless chicken breast, filleted into cutlets, then lightly floured and pan fried, at a high heat, until golden brown. Sounds delicious doesn’t it? But there’s more!

Yes there is more, and that “more” is the sauce. The sauce is really what the meal is about, without the sauce, you have fried chicken. And you can get that anywhere. Here is what I learned tonight….

To make the sauce, you start by filling a pan with a generous amount of olive oil, and hit that $*&#* with a high flame. Once the oil is hot, throw the onions in, remove the pan from the flame. Let the onions cook in the heat of the hot oil, not the oil and the flame. That is how you burn onions, we are just cooking them till they wilt to get the most flavor. Burning=bitter. After a few moments, put the pan back to the flame, then add the white wine, a generous amount, yer cooking out the alcohol anyway, you just want the flavor of the grapes is all. We cook this till it reduces to about half. Now we add the chicken broth, squeeze in fresh lemon, add capers and caper juice, and let it cook for a while on a high heat. You also want to add whatever is left from the frying pan you used to fry the chicken in. oh, don’t forget to add salt, and a little white pepper to yer liking.

After it’s reduced some more and has cooked to a nice brownish color, it’s time to remove it from the pan and drain all of the juices into another pan, now you only have the sauce, no onions, capers, pieces of fried flour, etc. all the essence from everything you cooked is now in that sauce and is full of flavor. Now you put that sauce in the pan back to a high flame and begin to stir in a half stick of butter, cold. Now you will see the sauce begin to darken a little and turn into a velvety, brown, sauce of goodness.

This you will pour over yer chicken and mashed potatoes, then add some crumbled bacon and freshly chopped parsley. Voila! “Monte-licious!”

This whole meal cost about $20. For three people to eat this good, you can not complain at all!