I came home today with a spring in my step, a gleam in my eye and a desire to cook with garlic, lemon, white wine and butter. Somewhere the conception and realization of such a dinner, Mike walks in, nods sagely, announces a quite fancy name for such a simple dish and also suggests adding capers. Capers! I had never eaten them before! With a bit of testing, salting, peppering and capering, we then creating a delightful meal!

Anyhow, this is easy to make and awesome.

Dredge thin, flat strips of chicken in a mix of flour, salt and pepper and sear in a large pan with a thin layer of smoking olive oil. The salt and pepper mixed into the flour should be to taste. The flour helps keep the chicken juicy. Both sides of the chicken should be a golden brown. Remove the chicken from the pan.

The pan is now full of little chicken bits stuck to the bottom. Before they char, turn down the heat and pour oodles of white wine to deglaze the pan. Scrape all the bits off the bottom of the pan, because they are delicious. The white wine will reduce and serve as the base of the sauce.

Add a few cloves of garlic! Fresh garlic is better. If you do not have a garlic press, please imagine me glaring at you. Harshly.

Add the butter to the White Wine/Garlic mix! It’ll melt and brighten up the flavor. I used roughly a tablespoon and a half of butter per pound of chicken. Butter is part of my strict daily anti-hypothermia regimen. However, if you enjoy shivering and turning blue while swimming in the ocean, you might use less!

There is now a pile of golden brown, seared chicken in a bowl, and a simmering collection of white wine, butter and garlic in the pan. Turn up the heat add the chicken and reduce the sauce. The excess flour on the chicken will thicken the sauce. I’m not sure how to explain when the sauce is reduced enough, but it should be ‘Slightly Gooey’, in an appetizing way.

Now, go out back to your lemon tree and pick a good looking lemon. Slice it in half and squeeze the juice over the sauce & mix it up. There are now only three trials left to accomplish before we can enjoy the fruits of our labours: Salting, Peppering & Capering. The key to success is tasting the sauce. In the beginning, the wine will overpower everything. (DON’T PANIC.)

I added a sprinkling of salt, quite a few pinches of pepper, and a crash of capers to the mix. I don’t have a set recipe yet & every dish is more of a process than a formula.

Knowing why a dish is made is so much more valuable than memorizing simply how to make it. Even though someone already invented Piccata, figuring out the process on my own was a lot more fun than blindly following a proceedure. Also, this experiment ended successfully, which is key!

• 1 quart of roma tomatoes (or 1 can of crushed tomatoes) – a quart was about 8 or 9 tomatoes for me
• 3-4 cloves of garlic
• 3/4 cup finely chopped onion or shallots
• 1/2 cup peas
• 1 cup vodka
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• olive oil
• 1/2 cup torn fresh basil

If you’re using fresh tomatoes, first cut in an X on the end of each tomato and drop them all in a pot of boiling water for about 4 minutes.  You’ll start to see the peels starting to separate. Take the tomatoes out and put them in cold water to bring the temperature low enough that you can handle them.  Peel the skin off with your hands – it should be super easy!

Next, use a serrated knife to chop the tomatoes roughly. Stick the tomatoes in a strainer of some sort – a colander should be fine. You want to get a good deal of the liquid innards out so that the sauce isn’t to watery later. I finished up the chopping by using kitchen shears (you can transfer it back to a board to chop as well, I just find shears to be a lot easier), and then crushed them a bit with a spoon.

Heat up a deep pan (I like to use a wok) with some olive oil, and start sauteeing the garlic and onion/shallots.  Continue sauteeing until the onion looks soft.  Throw in the vodka, and cook it down by at least half.

Add the tomatoes and chicken broth, stir. Throw in some salt and pepper.  Cook it down again for 3-4 minutes. Add cream and peas, turn heat to low, and stir gently to incorporate.  Simmer a bit longer until it looks nice and thick.  When it’s about ready, take it off the heat and stir in the torn basil.  Serve with pasta! I like to use penne.

If you like some heat with your sauce, try adding red pepper flakes to taste. I actually added a few pinches of it and it was good!

There is a version that Emeril Lagasse makes that involves bacon – you cut the bacon into small pieces and cook it first, using the fat to cook the onions afterwards. YUM. I’ll have to do that next time!

Luckily, we had master chef Christoper there to appease our stomachs with homemade bruschetta and garlic bread. Also, Sophie brought over a bottle of chianti classico that went really well with the appetizers and surprisingly decently with the main course. What? Red wine with seafood? Yes, yes we can.

Also, I got to break in my new, awesome, large, gas-range-wielding kitchen last night!  Being able to talk to people who are sitting at the bar while I cook is so good.

Photo!

I lifted the recipe from the Food Network site and added my own comments below:

**As far as proportions go, I find that this recipe serves 3-4 people easily.

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup finely chopped yellow onion
• 1/4 cup tomato concasse (tomatoes peeled, seeded, and cut into strips) **I just used diced tomatoes from a can!
• 1/4 cup sliced scallion greens
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1/2 cup vodka
• 1 cup fish stock **fish stock is a little hard to find, chicken or vegetable stock work fine as substitutes
• 2 cups whipping cream
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 8 ounces gemelli **definitely recommend using gemelli in particular – it goes so well
• 1 tablespoon very finely grated Parmesan
• 1/2 pound smoked salmon, sliced thinly and chopped **you can definitely get away with less
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 2 tablespoons chiffonade fresh basil

Directions

In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring, until soft, about 3 minutes. Add the tomato, scallion greens, and garlic and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds.

Remove the pan from the heat and add the vodka. Return to the heat and flame.

**Note: You’ll need one of those long lighters that you use for grills and such, I’ve tried using matches before because I lacked lighters and it’s not pretty.  After you light it on fire, pick up the pan and shake it lightly and watch the flames dance! It’s pretty and blue.  The shaking will help the vodka burn faster/more evenly I think, while also being a source of entertainment.

When the flame dies out, add the stock. Bring to a boil and reduce by 50 percent in volume. Add the cream, salt, and pepper, and cook until reduced by 50 percent in volume.

**Note: This takes REALLY LONG if you are making a lot; with my doubled recipe yesterday it took about an hour and a half. Generally though, I would expect it to take only about 30 minutes with a regular batch. You’ll know it’s about done when the cream takes on the reddish color of the tomatoes in the sauce!

Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a pot of boiling salted water until al dente. Drain in a colander.

Add the pasta to the cream sauce and toss to coat. Add the cheese, salmon, and herbs, and remove from the heat. Toss to coat. Serve immediately.