Chicken piccata

Great news. Both in the sense that the news is big and that is also good. I have booked my flight to Italy. From April 22nd I'll be cooking, and blogging, from Milan, and hopefully I will also be traveling around Europe at any given chance. Ok. Who am I kidding? I will be traveling as much as humanly possible. And I will be eating and cooking new (old) things and having the time of my life. Of course I will be blogging about it and hopefully I'll be doing a better job at it than now. The thing is, I feel like I have a million things to do before I take off on the 21st and time, all the sudden, has started going by really fast.

Take Easter, for example. I seriously couldn't believe it yesterday when I woke up and I realized it was time to celebrate it already. I had this crazy notion that Easter was far, far away and that I had all the time in the world to prepare for it. Not that I had something specific in mind, but still.

The same, unfortunately, goes with packing. I feel like the endeavor is so huge, I don't know where to start from. I've moved across an ocean once before, but for some reason this time it feels more difficult. Maybe it's because I still have to do it. Maybe it's just the thought of it. Regardless, in the mean time I leave you with this great recipe for chicken piccata, which is chicken in a lemon butter sauce with capers.

CHICKEN PICCATA

Adapted from Tyler Florence

• 4 skinless, boneless, chicken breasts (about 11/2 pounds)
• All-purpose flour, for dredging
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3 large eggs
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 lemon, with rind, cut in thin rounds
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 4 tablespoons capers
• 1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

Put the chicken breasts side by side on a cutting board and lay a piece of plastic wrap over them. Pound the chicken breasts with a flat meat mallet, until they are about 1/4-inch thick. Put some flour in a shallow platter and season with a fair amount of salt and pepper; mix with a fork to distribute evenly. In a wide bowl, beat the eggs with 3 tablespoons of water to make an egg wash. Heat the oil over medium-high flame in a large skillet.

Dredge both sides of the chicken cutlets in the seasoned flour, and then dip them in the egg wash to coat completely, letting the excess drip off. When the oil is nice and hot, add the cutlets and fry for 2 minutes on each side until golden, turning once. Remove the chicken cutlets to a large platter in a single layer to keep warm.

Toss the lemon slices into the pan and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, until fragrant. Add the wine, broth, and lemon juice, simmer for 5 minutes to reduce the sauce slightly. Roll the butter in some flour and add it to the skillet, this will thicken the sauce. Stir to incorporate and dissolve the flour. Reduce the heat to medium-low and return the chicken to the pan; place the lemon slices on top of the cutlets. Simmer gently for 2 minutes to heat the chicken through. Season with salt and pepper and garnish with chopped parsley before serving.