Pasta

Chicken Piccata is something I used to make a long time ago but for one reason or another, stopped in the past couple years. Never could figure out why. Maybe because it has butter and no mushrooms. That could be it.

I’ve been experimenting with some low-light photography as of late for the club at work. Our assignment the past week was “still life” and of course I abused my poetic license to interpret that more as “things that are still” as opposed to the more traditional sense (That and all the actual still life I shot sucked). I used the shot above and the one below as my examples. One tip I did pick up while doing the assignment was how to get some of the glare off of the food/chillies. The light source was in the upper left hand corner of the shot and was blowing out that section of the subject so I took a magazine (Car and Driver June 2011 in fact) and held it between the light source and the food. Worked wonders, no glare and didn’t really reduce the lighting that much.

Thai Chillies

And one more picture that didn’t make the cut. More or less because I didn’t focus it right and was too lazy to zoom in the lcd to check. Oh well, I’ll figure it out next time =)

Poker chips

I’ll probably be posting the assignments for our club here every now and then. It keeps me on my toes and forces me to experiment and learn new techniques. And the club is very helpful, suggesting different things I’d normally never consider but after thinking about it, make sense. And they encouraged me to buy a shutter-release, probably one of the most useful pieces of equipment that I picked up so far. All for 5 bucks too, can’t imagine why I never got one! I also picked up Scott Kelby’s Digital Photography books, so far I’ve nearly finished book 1 and a lot of what I’ve read so far has stuck with me since. Now to just find more opportunities to apply all the new techniques =P

As for the photos, one day I’ll get a couple more tablecloths. It’s getting boring isn’t it?

Anyway, onto the important stuff…the food!

Chicken Piccata

Time : 20 minutes
Serves : 4

Ingredients:
– 1 whole boneless chicken breast
– 2/3 cup flour, for dredging
– 4 tbsp butter
– 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
– salt and pepper to taste
– 2 lemons, juiced
– 1/2 cup chicken broth
– Couple tbsp heavy cream
– 1/4 cup capers, rinsed
– handful of fresh Italian parsley, chopped fine
– 1 lb pasta (linguine, spaghetti, fettucini)

Method:
1. Cut chicken breast into two halves, then slice lengthwise to create 4 total fillets. Use a meat tenderizer to pound into 1/3 inch pieces.
2. Season chicken with some salt and pepper and then dredge in flour.
3. In a large frying pan (large enough to hold all 4 fillets later on), heat 2 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp butter over medium heat. Add in two of the fillets and cook on each side for about 2 minutes. Remove cooked fillets, add 2 tbsp olive oil, and another tbsp of butter and cook the other fillets. When finished, set all the chicken aside.
4. Add in the lemon juice and chicken broth. Stir well, making sure to scrape up the tasty bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. Add in the capers and bring to a boil. Taste and adjust salt/pepper accordingly.
5. In a separate stock pot, bring several quarts of water to a boil and add in some salt. Cook pasta according to boxed directions until al dente (or whatever firmness you like).
6. Return the chicken to the frying pan and simmer for another 5 minutes, turning occasionally. Remove the chicken once again.
7. Add the last of the butter to the sauce along with the heavy cream. Stir well.
8. Plate the chicken with a helping of pasta, pour sauce over top and garnish with some chopped fresh Italian parsley.

So, as you might’ve noticed, it’s been roughly 6 months since I posted last. Due to work constraints, commitments, and hitting the 100 recipe mark (will update this later), I’ve been sticking to the familiar stuff through the last two seasons and I figured I’d be boring you all with posts of the same stuff over and over again.

Well, that was the fastest 6 months ever.

Now, I’m back (not really with a vengeance)! Currently in the middle of an Italian food kick (Don’t know why, but I feel like this weather is great for some Italian) so that’s what you’ll see over the next few posts (I think). It also could be I have a thing for anything with noodles. And sauce. Just flipping through the 50+ pages of different sauces in Marcella Hazan’s definitive cookbook had my drooling into a bowl. Literally.

So I decided to get off my (lazy) bum and cook some new stuff up. One quick trip to Russo’s later and I’m ready with ingredients fit for the next week (and 3 different sauces…I can’t wait!).

This time I made some fettucini alfredo, would you believe that I’ve never made it before? Normally, I’ve associated the dish with a soft pile of cheesy overcooked noodles with heaps of butter on top. Maybe just some horrible memories of leftovers one time but needless to say, it’s not a dish I normally would pick out of a menu. But Marcella to the rescue! Her version is decidedly less buttery and more savory…not to mention incredibly easy to make and a good compliment to a lot of Italian main courses.

And for a main course? Lemon parsley chicken. I’ve had this a couple times before, most notably by my friend’s mother years ago when I was in middle school (Hmm, that’s something like 15 years ago, eesh).

Anyway, here we go!

Both recipes are adapted from Marcella Hazan’s Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

Lemon Parsley Chicken

Serves 4
Time : 30 minutes

Ingredients:
– 1 tbsp canola oil
– 2 tbsp butter
– 1 whole chicken breast, halved, cut into 4 fillets (details below)
– Salt and pepper to taste
– 1 lemon
– 3 tbsp chopped parsley
– red pepper flakes (optional)

Method:
1. Prepping the chicken breast. Cut the whole chicken breast in half. Take each half, press firmly down onto the cutting board with your palm and carefully slice horizontally in half. You should end up with 4 chicken cutlets. Using parchment paper, pound each cutlet to about 1/4 inch thickness.
2. Add canola oil and 1.5 tbsp butter to a frying pan large enough to hold all of the cutlets. Turn to medium high.
3. After the butter melts, add the chicken cutlets. Cook about 30-45 seconds on each side and then remove. Sprinkle with a dash of salt and pepper.
4. Cut the lemon in half and squeeze the juice into the pan. Simmer briefly for about 30 seconds and scrape up any loose bits of chicken stuck to the pan.
5. Add the chopped parsley and the rest of the butter, stir vigorously to combine and turn the heat to low.
6. Add the chicken cutlets back to the pan.
7. Cook another few minutes on each side, making sure to turn the fillets over in the sauce 2-3 times to coat well then remove to a platter and serve.

Fettucini Alfredo

Serves 4
Time : 15 minutes

Ingredients
- 1 cup (8 fl oz) heavy cream
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 lb fettucini or other pasta
- 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Dash of nutmeg

Method
1. In a large saute pan, add 2/3 cup of heavy cream and the butter over medium heat. Cook about a minute until thickened. Turn off heat and remove
2. Cook the pasta according to the directions on the box. You’ll want slightly underdone pasta (it’ll finish in the saute pan) so make sure to taste the pasta as the timer gets close. Drain in a colander.
3. Add he pasta to the pan with the sauce, turn the heat to low and toss the pasta to thoroughly coat each noodle.
4. Add the rest of the cream, 3/4 cup of the parmesan cheese, the pinch of nutmeg. Add some salt and pepper gradually, tasting as you go.
5. Toss the pasta again to mix well, taste and add salt/pepper as necessary, then remove to a serving bowl with the rest of the parmesan cheese on the side.