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chicken olivio
This recipe started life as a standard chicken piccata—lemon, capers, etc. (If you’re looking for chicken piccata, you could use the one at Cook’s Illustrated, for example.) The problem is that Melanie doesn’t like capers. They’re too salty, too green, too something. So how could I replicate the tart, lemony taste of piccata without the capers. After rooting around in the refrigerator for a bit, it came to me: olives. Specifically some nice Kalamata olives, vinegar cured and packed in oil. The salty and vinegary taste nicely replicate the brine of the capers, and their meaty taste adds a nice flavor to the dish. To add some more interest, I threw in some mushrooms at the end and chicken piccata became chicken olivio. The result is a tart, bright flavor that goes well with a sweet vegetable like butternut squash or a sweet potato.
Ingredients:
2 large lemons
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1-2/ pounds), trimmed and sliced in half horizontally
Salt and ground black pepper
1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
4 Tablespoons olive oil
1 small shallot, minced (about 2 Tablespoons) or 1 small garlic clove, minced
1 cup chicken stock or canned, low-sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup kalamata olives or another oil-packed, vinegar-cured olive
1/2 cup mushrooms, crimini (baby bella) or white button
3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 Tablespoons minced fresh parsley
Directions:
1. Set your oven rack to the middle position and put a large oven-proof plate on it. Set the oven to 200 degrees.
2. Cut one lemon in half, from pole to pole. Trim the ends and then slice one half the lemon crosswise into 1/4-inch slices. Juice the other half and the other lemon. You should have about 1/4 cup of juice.
3. Put the flour in a pie plate and mix with pinches of salt and pepper. Coat each cutlet with flour and shake off excess.
4. Heat heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat for two minutes and then add 2 Tbsp. oil. Put half of chicken pieces into the skillet and saute for 2 minutes without moving them until lightly browned. Flip them over and saute for 2 minutes more. Move them to the plate in the oven, put 2 more Tbsp. oil in the pan, and repeat with the remainder of the cutlets.
5. Reduce heat to medium. (If you don’t have a gas stove, you can carefully shake the pan in mid-air to cool off or if you have a burner free, preheat that one to medium and move the pan to it when ready. Don’t forget that it’s on!) Add the shallot or garlic to the skillet and saute until fragrant, but do not let it brown. Add stock and lemon slices, increase heat to high, and let reduce to about 1/3 cup over 4 minutes. Use a wooden spoon to scrape the brown bits from the bottom of the pan to add flavor to the sauce.
6. Add the lemon juice, olives, and mushrooms and simmer until sauce is reduced to 1/3 cup again, about 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat and swirl in the butter until it melts and the sauce is thickened. Spoon over chicken and service with pasta.
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