Chicken Piccata and Chocolate Covered Strawberries

The children have been away at camp this week. My husband and I rarely find ourselves alone for any extended length of time. When you have four children, even with two of them away at college, time without children is not the norm. I'm not complaining. I can't imagine life any other way. But, with the children away, I thought I'd try a recipe I've not cooked before. Something nice, something that suggested an adult meal, romantic even. 

When I was in Jacksonville recently, we went to an Italian restaurant. There were some really nice dishes and the atmosphere was pleasant. I ordered chicken piccata. I've enjoyed this dish many times and couldn't wait to eat it there. Uhm, no. Just no. It lacked flavor. How can a dish with lemon juice and capers lack flavor? I honestly don't know, but I didn't like their version of the dish. It was bland. I had the thought, I can do better than this. But could I?

Fast forward to Thursday, and I decided to find out. While I was shopping, I noticed strawberries were on sale. I love all kinds of berries. My whole family does. So, I loaded up on strawberries and decided for dessert, we would have chocolate covered strawberries. I picked up the rest of the ingredients I needed, including wine. I am of the opinion that I should always pick a wine I like to drink. Then, I can use it for cooking and drinking, and it won't go to waste. Also, if I like the taste of it for drinking, I should like the taste in the dishes I prepare as well. 

I chose this recipe from Simply Recipes because it looked like the same ingredients from the dish in the restaurant. I must say, I love it. I will use this recipe again. It was definitely worth the small amount of time it took to create the dish. 

I purchased chicken tenders or chicken breast cutlets. They were on sale and make prep time faster. I was concerned about the chicken tasting bland and the possibility of it drying out during the cooking time, so I decided to marinade it. I had a few hours before my husband would be home from work. I felt it would be enough time for the chicken to absorb some flavor and the oil would prevent the chicken from becoming too dry. 

Before I touched the chicken however, I decided to start with the strawberries. When making chocolate covered strawberries, I always wash the strawberries well, then set them aside to dry. The chocolate won't stick to the strawberries properly if they are wet. They can be set aside on paper towels or a hand towel. 

Strawberries drying on paper towels

While the strawberries were drying, I went to work on the chicken. When making chicken piccata, you have to pan fry the chicken. I find it easier to cook the chicken if it is pounded thin. It cooks more evenly and takes less time. I took the chicken breast cutlets and put them in a large, gallon sized zip loc bag. You could put the chicken between saran wrap, plastic wrap, cling wrap, or whatever you call it as well. I pounded the chicken fairly flat. It was about as twice as wide as it had been and about half as thick. Once I flattened the chicken pieces, I put them all in the zip loc bag and added olive oil, about a tablespoon of lemon juice, and some homemade Italian seasoning. I put the bag of chicken in the refrigerator for about three hours. 

Chicken tender before

Chicken tender after

After the strawberries were dry, I melted the chocolate. This can be done in the microwave or on the stove with a double boiler. I dipped the strawberries in the chocolate and placed them on parchment paper until the chocolate was solid. 

I removed the chicken from the refrigerator when I was ready to start cooking. The recipe is fairly simple. I mixed the flour and Parmesan cheese together and coated the chicken pieces. I fried them in the olive oil. I kept the chicken warm in the oven while I made the sauce. 

While I was shopping, I decided some pasta would work well with this dish. I chose orzo. I made a sauce similar to the piccata sauce. I used about a half of a cup of chicken broth, a half of cup of wine, a tablespoon of minced garlic, about a teaspoon of Italian seasoning, a little salt and reduced it by half.  I added butter to it and made any adjustments for taste. After I cooked and drained the orzo, I added about a half of a cup of shredded Parmesan cheese and stirred it to melt the cheese. Then I added the sauce. It was delicious. I also served garlic bread.

My husband was surprised and pleased. He joked that we were eating a sophisticated, grown up meal. He asked me to make it again before he even finished what was on his plate. This recipe really would serve four people. When the children returned from camp, they were hungry. Imagine that! I gave them the leftover chicken piccata. They really enjoyed it too. They were more excited about the chocolate covered strawberries though. :) 

So, you can see the final product:

Chicken Piccata

And the strawberries:

Chocolate Covered Strawberries