Chicken Piccata Pasta Toss

Rachael Ray...oh how she sometimes comes up with a quick, simple, and delicious recipe.

I picked this recipe out of the bowl and made it last night. Naturally I couldn't just follow the recipe. I had to "enhance" it. But I only enhanced it by adding mushrooms. I had them and they needed to be used.

Piccata is a meal with a quick cooking time, but there are a lot of stages to get to that quick cooking time. This recipe took out some of those steps. It also a bit lighter. Traditional piccata is done with butter and is quite heavy. This is done with chicken stock and makes it lighter.

Chicken Piccata Pasta Toss
Courtesy of Rachael Ray
Serves 4

• 1 lb penne - cooked al dente
• 2 T extra virgin olive oil
• 1 1/4 lb chicken tenders, cut into 1 inch pieces
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 T butter
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 medium shallots, chopped
• 2 T flour
• 1/2 c white wine (if you don't cook with wine, just use chicken stock)
• The juice of 1 lemon
• 1 cup chicken stock (add another 1/2 cup if you're not using the wine)
• 3 T capers (I didn't have capers so I substituted green olives)
• 1/2 c chopped fresh parsley
• Chives for garnish.

Heat a deep nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add a tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil and the chicken to the pan. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Brown chicken until lightly golden all over, about 5 to 6 minutes. Remove chicken from pan and return the skillet to the heat.

I switched up the recipe here. I browned and sauteed some mushrooms in oil before this next step. Took them out and added them to the bowl of chicken before the next step.

Reduce heat to medium. Add another tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter, the garlic and shallots to the skillet. Sauté garlic and shallots 3 minutes. Add flour and cook 2 minutes.

Whisk in wine and reduce liquid 1 minute. Whisk lemon juice and broth into sauce. Stir in capers and parsley. When the liquid comes to a bubble, add remaining 1/2 tablespoon butter to the sauce to give it a little shine. Add chicken back to the pan and heat through, 1 to 2 minutes. Toss hot pasta with chicken and sauce and serve. Adjust salt and pepper, to your taste. Top with fresh snipped chives.