Winner Winner #1: confit tomato chicken piccata
A new recipe series, helping to broaden your weeknight repertoire
Hello!
With this post I’m soft launching a new series of recipes, which I’ll publish regularly via this newsletter.
They’re all based around chicken — the meat most carnivores put most regularly into their weekly shops, but/and could do with expanding their repertoire in terms of how they’re cooking and serving it.
For now it’s a quick, recipe-focused series without too many introductory words. Because ultimately these ideas are for those of us who want to cook from scratch, but don’t have much time to do so.
The recipes will be for paid supporters. An annual subscription is by far the most economical way to sign up. All details through the upgrade to paid button.
All the best, Ed.
First up: a kinda confit tomato chicken piccata.
‘Piccata’ is an Italian-ish dish you might well already associate with heavily-bashed, lightly-floured and then pan-fried lean meat (typically veal cutlets or chicken breasts), which is finished with a sharp lemon, caper and browned butter sauce.
Depending which internet source you believe, the ‘piccata’ term either relates to the pounded meat OR the sharp (‘pique’) sauce spooned over it. Either way, I think this non traditional version still just about fits the title.
The tomatoes, cooked with fat cloves of garlic, a bit of basil, salt, sugar, a splash of vinegar, are incredibly easy, moreish, sweet, sharp and jammy, and their cooking juices make a luscious sauce for the meal. Because the chicken breasts are halved through their equator and then pounded thinly, they cook incredibly quickly, and you can also make 2 medium-large breasts serve 4 people. Nice.
I like to serve it with a side of bulgar wheat, couscous or fregola. But mashed potato, boiled baby potatoes or oven fries would be just as good. You could add some fine green beans or similar, or just follow-up with a green salad.
Finally, there’s a snazzy little basil-parmesan trick that makes for an amazingly effective garnish. I’m confident you’ll love it.
Recipe: Confit tomato chicken piccata
