Giada De Laurentiis Makes Chicken Piccata _ Everyday Italian _ Food Network

**A Simple yet Delicious Piccata Recipe**

Piccata is a classic Italian dish that consists of thinly sliced chicken breasts dredged in flour, sautéed in butter and oil, and served with a tangy and flavorful sauce made with lemon, capers, and herbs. In this article, we will explore the steps to prepare a delicious piccata recipe from scratch.

**Buttering Up the Sauce**

The first step in preparing the sauce is to start by thickening it with two tablespoons of soft butter. This adds richness and creaminess to the sauce, which is essential for a good piccata. The butter also helps to thicken the sauce again, giving it a velvety texture that coats the chicken perfectly.

As we wait for the butter to melt, let's take a look at our chicken breasts. We've sliced them thinly to ensure even cooking and to make them more tender. Butterflying the chicken breast involves slicing through the middle of it, creating two separate pieces that are much thinner than if we had left it whole.

**Seasoning and Dredging**

Once our chicken is prepared, it's time to season it with a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper. We'll also dredge the chicken in some all-purpose flour, just enough to coat it lightly. The flour acts as a barrier between the fat in the pan and the moisture in the chicken breast, preventing them from mixing together and creating a better texture.

**Cooking the Chicken**

With our chicken seasoned and dredged, we're now ready to cook it. We'll heat up a medium-high heat in our pan and add some extra virgin olive oil. The oil can be heated to a higher temperature than fat like butter, making it perfect for cooking our chicken.

As soon as the oil is hot, we'll add two tablespoons of butter to the pan. The butter will melt quickly, creating a sizzling sound that indicates the fat has reached its ideal temperature for cooking. We'll then place our chicken breasts in the pan and cook them for about four or five minutes on each side.

**Deglazing the Pan**

While our chicken is cooking, we can start deglazing the pan with some chicken stock. Deglazing a pan involves adding a liquid to the pan to scrape up all the little bits of food that have stuck to the bottom, creating a flavorful sauce. We'll use a cup of low-sodium chicken stock and add it to the pan, stirring it in quickly to avoid burning.

**Adding the Sauce Ingredients**

Now that our chicken is cooked, we can start adding the ingredients for our sauce. We'll add a third of a cup of chopped fresh parsley, which will give our dish a fresh and herbaceous flavor. We'll also add about a handful of capers, which have a tangy and salty flavor that complements the lemon perfectly.

**Finishing the Dish**

With all our ingredients added to the pan, we can now finish off our piccata recipe. We'll pour the sauce over the chicken breasts, making sure they're fully coated in the delicious and creamy sauce. Finally, we'll add some flat-leaf parsley as a garnish, which will add a pop of color and freshness to our dish.

**The Final Result**

And there you have it - a delicious piccata recipe that's quick, easy, and packed with flavor. The chicken is moist and tender on the outside, while the inside remains juicy and full of flavor. The sauce is tangy and creamy, with a perfect balance of lemon and capers. This dish is sure to become a favorite in your household, so go ahead and give it a try!