Chicken Picatta

This is a delicious lemony chicken recipe, with capers and shallots of extra flavor.  Adapted from Cooks Illustrated

Ingredients

• 2 large lemons
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1.5 pounds), rinsed, trimmed of excess fat, and patted dry
• 1/2 c flour
• 4 T oil
• 2 shallots, minced
• 1 c chicken stock (low sodium)
• 2 T capers, drained and chipped
• 3 T butter
• 2 T fresh parsley

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 50-75C, adjust rack to lower middle position, and warm a large ovenproof plate.
2. Halve one lemon lengthwise, trim the ends, and cut into thin slices. Remove seeds.
3. Juice the remaining half and the other whole lemon, leaving you with about ¼ cup juice. Set aside.
4. Place flour in a large plate, coat chicken in the flour, shake to remove the excess flour.
5. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat, add 2 T oil, and when hot, lay half of the chicken pieces in pan.
6. Saute chicken pieces until lightly browned on the first side, about 2-2½ minutes, then turn over and cook until other side is browned, another 2-2½ minutes longer.
7. Transfer cooked chicken to plate in oven, add remaining oil to pan, and repeat with other pieces of chicken
8. After all chicken is cooked, add shallots to chicken pan, and saute until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes
9. Add chicken broth and lemon slices, increase heat to high, and deglaze the pan: scrape brown bits from the bottom of the pan, work them into sauce, and simmer until the liquid reduces down to about 1/3 c (~4 minutes)
10. Add capers and reserved lemon juice and simmer, again, until the sauce is reduced down to 1/3 c (~1-2 minutes)
11. Remove pan from the heat and add butter, swirl the pan until butter melts and thickens the sauce.
12. Stir in the parsley, and serve the sauce over the chicken.