Experimenting by accident

 

One of the things that makes this isolation old is that Jordan and I are used to cooking together. So in an effort to share, I offered to make a new chicken salad recipe I found. It called for green onion, celery, and dill along with the chicken, and a dressing made mostly of plain yogurt with a small portion of mayonnaise. Maybe a squish of lemon too. I thought it would make a nice lunch for us. I’d just put her portion out on my doorstep, and she’d come get it. I had chicken in the freezer—label torn so I couldn’t get the weight, but I judged it, frozen, to be one breast or two halves.

Wrong! Defrosted it turned out to be five very thin chicken cutlets, like you would use for scallopini or piccata—the latter may be why I bought them. I decided to persevere with the chicken salad but rather than poach the chicken in a skillet (I keep getting it tough), I would cook it like I used to when feeding teenagers--in the oven with some broth. The five pieces laid out neatly in the small jellyroll pan that fits my toaster oven, so I seasoned liberally with salt and pepper and covered them with a little over a cup of chicken broth (Better Than Bouillon). I had intended to cover the pan with foil but figured with that much liquid the chicken would not dry out. Baked them at 350^o for 30 minutes. When they came out they smelled so good! And a taste of that broth, now infused with chicken, was tempting.

I called Jordan and suggested I make them for supper with a lemony sauce, and she, who always wants piccata, jumped on the idea. So last night I made a roux, then gradually stirred in the broth the chicken had cooked in, a good glug of white wine, and juice of half a lemon. What I ended up with was sort of a cheater’s piccata. The sauce was delicious, but the dish lacked eye appeal. I reserved a portion for myself and sent the rest into the house, along with a suggestion that a sprinkle of dried parlsey would liven up the appearance. Capers would have worked too, but I omitted them because Jacob doesn’t like them.

To me, piccata is a bit of a pain because of all that pounding to get the chicken thin enough. The beauty of this was that it was already thin. One cutlet was enough for me, but I suspect most adults would want two pieces.

So here’s what I did:

Almost chicken piccata

5 chicken cutlets

Salt and pepper

1 cup chicken broth

2 Tbsp. butter

2 Tbsp. flour, scant

Reserved broth

1/3 cup white wine

Juice of one half lemon

1 tsp. capers, drained (optional)

Dried parsley (optional)

           Gently poach seasoned cutlets in broth in oven, 30 minutes, 350^o. This may be done ahead of time; refrigerate cutlets in the broth.

At serving time, remove cutlets from broth. Melt butter in skillet and stir in flour; stir in reserved broth slowly, a bit at a time, until mixture thickens. Add wine and lemon juice. Add cutlets to pan and heat gently. To serve, sprinkle with parsley and add capers if desired.

Tonight’s solitary menu intrigues me—a fried egg, chopped bacon, chopped tomato (if we have any), and sliced avocado, all on a bed of chees-y grits. Breakfast for dinner, or as we used to call it, brinner. I’ll report later. I think by the weekend, my family and I can mingle, masked. I’ll be so glad.