• Skinless, free range organic boneless chicken breast
• 1/4 c. potato starch
• Olive oil
• Pastured /organic butter
• 3-4 garlic cloves, minced
• Juice of one lemon
• 1-2 tbsp of capers, roughly chopped
• Handful of flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
• 1/3-1/2 c. white wine, something kind of dry
• 1/4 c.organic chicken broth

Preparation

Chicken piccata is classically thin paillards of chicken breast (breast meat pounded to a flat, even thickness) that is dredged in flour, sauteed, and then dressed with a lemon-white wine sauce. I know wine is not orthodox Paleo, but the alcohol burns off in cooking, so why not enjoy it in your sauce?

Try to find pastured chicken, your taste buds will thank you. If you get bone-in chicken breasts, it is quite simple to debone the breast. Using the point of a sharp paring knife, simply cut along the edge of the bone, gently cutting away the breast meat from the bone. With a little practice, you will be able to do this quickly.

I can’t be bothered to pound out chicken breasts. So I use a larger knife (non-serrated) and with the chicken breast laying on the cutting board, I poisition my free hand on top of the breast to keep it steady and then cut thinner horizontal layers of breast away. For a good size breast, you should be able to get at least 3 slices this way and they will be more uniform for faster cooking without all that pounding.

Sprinkle the potato starch on a plate and then dredge the breast slices through the potato starch. Shake the excess starch off the breast (you do not want large clumps of starch in your sautee pan) and set aside.

In a large sautee pan, pour in a few turns of olive oil (probably a good 3 tbsps.) and a couple of tablespoons of butter. Over medium-high heat, sautee the breast slices until just cooked through. Try not to overcook, no one likes to eat a rubber chicken! Remove cooked breast meat from the pan, place on a clean plate, and cover with aluminum foil to both keep warm and to promote final cooking.

Turn your burner heat down to medium. If your chicken has absorbed all of the oil, add a little bit more and another tbsp of butter and then toss in the garlic. Briefly cook, avoid allowing the garlic to brown. Pour in the white wine to deglaze the pan, while using a wooden spoon to scrape up any crusty bits. Pour in chicken broth, lemon juice, and add chopped capers. Stir and allow to reduce by at least 1/4. The amount of sauce I make is dependent upon the amount of chicken I am cooking, so adjust your liquid amounts accordingly. Also, you may wish a more or less lemony sauce, so adjust the amount of lemon juice to suit your taste.

After the sauce is reduced, toss in one last tbsp of butter, allow to melt through and then grind in some fresh pepper to taste. I rarely add extra salt to the sauce, as the capers are so briney to begin with.

Pour reduced sauce over your chicken and garnish with the chopped parsley. Goes deliciously with steamed broccoli.