Chicken Piccata with Lemon & Capers

📝 Ingredients

• 2 chicken breasts (about 170 g each)
• 20 g plain flour (for dusting)
• 120 g dried pasta (linguine or spaghetti)
• 1 head of broccoli (about 400 g)
• 20 g unsalted butter (10 g for cooking, 10 g for the sauce)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 lemon (juice)
• 2 tbsp drained capers
• ½ chicken stock cube + 150 ml hot water
• 10 g fresh parsley
• Salt, black pepper

🍴 Utensils

• Large saucepan
• Steamer basket
• Large frying pan
• Rolling pin
• Wooden spatula
• Colander

📖 Steps

1. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Meanwhile, cut the broccoli into small florets, peel the stalk and slice it into rounds. Juice the lemon, chop the garlic and parsley, drain the capers and dissolve the half stock cube in the hot water.
2. Cut each chicken breast in half horizontally to make 4 escalopes. Place them between two sheets of baking paper and flatten them with a rolling pin to an even thickness of about 1 cm: they'll cook quickly and evenly.
3. Season the escalopes with salt and pepper, then dip both sides in the flour spread on a plate. Tap off the excess: a thin coating is enough, too much flour would give a pasty crust.
4. Drop the pasta into the boiling water and cook for the time on the packet. After 3 minutes, put the broccoli in a steamer basket (or a metal colander) over the pan, cover and cook for 6 to 7 minutes: it should be tender but still bright green.
5. At the same time, heat the olive oil and 10 g butter in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat. When the butter foams, brown the escalopes for 3 minutes per side without moving them, until nicely golden and no longer pink in the middle. Set aside on a plate.
6. Turn down to a medium heat and fry the garlic in the pan for 30 seconds without letting it brown. Pour in the stock and lemon juice, then scrape the bottom with a wooden spatula to release the caramelised bits. Leave to reduce for 3 to 4 minutes, until about half the liquid remains.
7. Off the heat, add the capers and the remaining 10 g butter, stirring gently: the sauce turns glossy and lightly coats the back of a spoon. Return the escalopes and their juices to the pan and turn them in the sauce for 1 minute over a low heat.
8. Drain the pasta. Divide the pasta, broccoli and escalopes between two warm plates, spoon over plenty of lemon and caper sauce and sprinkle with chopped parsley. Serve straight away.