Chicken P’ Somethin’
Last night’s dinner recipe was “Easy Chicken Piccata”, while it was a fairly easy recipe to follow, for me it was the flavor that was a fail.
I started preparing by getting the ingredients measured out. I’ve learned through past experience that if I don’t start this way things go sideways, FAST! The problem this time, the recipe listed the measurement total that would then be dived out later in the recipe. This was difficult as things started cooking quickly, negating the easy part of the recipe.
The recipe then starts by heating oil in a pan, dredging the chicken in flour, and cooking it. Heating the oil went well, check, dredging the chicken went well, check, but cooking the chicken may be where the recipe started to derail. At first glance, I was really proud of how good the chicken looked but upon closer inspection, you could still see clumps of flour that lingered. So, I tried to smash the chicken into the pan and hope that would somehow create a beautiful browning look. You know the look, the one that people who actually know how to cook can create effortlessly.
Next, it says to set chicken aside and keep warm, easy enough. I threw it in the oven at 200 degrees Fahrenheit on an oven-safe plate. I think the chicken did not just keep warm but continued to cook, turned to rubber, and lost that beautiful crust which started to become soggy. Whomp whomp.
The flame is still going so time to move on. Heat more oil in the pan and sauté the shallots and garlic, no problem. At this point, it said to add the wine and scrape the brown bits from the pan (my husband says it’s called deglazing), but I did not have any brown bits. I used a nonstick skillet so maybe that was the cause, who knows but I don’t think the brown bits would have saved me.
When the recipe says to reduce, I start to panic. I have yet to be successful at reducing anything to the proper amount. Normally I have a problem with the lack of reduction (think soup); this time I think I possibly over-reduced. The sauce did not really have a sauce consistency nor was there enough of it for the amount of chicken I prepared.
I made rice as a side that I put the soggy chicken on and added the “sauce” mixture over the top of. I think the presentation was pretty good but when I went to taste the chicken it was chewy, so I tried another piece, also chewy. I had a third piece from a different chicken breast altogether and the same problem. The flavor of the sauce also left something to be desired, the only redeeming quality of this meal was the rice. I have successfully mastered rice (thank you, Gordon Ramsay, YouTube video linked below)! My husband tasted it and his reaction couldn’t have been more on point, “It’s chicken p’something”.
Needless to say, this one didn’t work out. Now to figure out what’s cooking tonight?! I’m thinking delivery 😊
Recipe: https://www.familytabletreasures.com/easy-chicken-piccata/
Gordon Ramsay’s Rice:
One Comment
John S
To be fair, when I said it was “Chicken P’Somethin'” I also said it was pretty good; I must have had the only piece of chicken that wasn’t over cooked.