The inspiration for this came from one of my favorite restaurants here in Ohio; Bun’s in Delaware, Ohio. It has definitely got a thumbs up. The star of this recipe is the sauce: derived from simmering down chicken stock, lemon juice, and capers [& caper juice] as well as a few other seasonings. Variations of this sauce also use chardonnay. The first time I made the sauce, I found that even though the sauce had reduced and flavors concentrated, it was still too thin. I used an ingenious French technique, beurre manié. This technique combines equal amounts of soft butter and flour. You put it into your sauce and it thickens up. This prevents the flour from clumping.
for the chicken
- 2 chicken breasts cut in half
- 2/3 C. flour
- 1 C. panko bread crumbs: panko bread crumbs are a lighter, Japanese style bread crumb that are ideal for breading.
- 1 large egg
- pinch of salt
- 1/2 tsp. black pepper
for the sauce
- 1-1/2 C. chicken stock
- 2 Tbsp. caper juice
- 1 Tbsp. capers
- juice of one lemon
- 2 cloves of garlic
- pinch of salt
- 1 tsp. black pepper
- 1-1/2 Tbsp. flour + equal amounts of room temp. butter
- an additional 3-4 Tbsp. butter
Preheat oven to 400 oF. Put a chicken cutlet between two sheets of wax paper; pound to 1/4″ with a meat mallet. Repeat this process with the remaining three cutlets.
Now set up your breading station: first, take a cooling rack and place it inside of a baking sheet. If you do not have a cooling rack (though it pays off, and you can find a set for about $5 at the super market) line the baking sheet with parchment paper. Next, beat the eggs in a bowl with salt and pepper. Then another bowl with the panko, and another with flour*note: you can use plates for these two. Line them on your counter in the following order: flour, eggs, panko, baking sheet.
First, coat the chicken in flour shaking off all excess. Next, dip it in the eggs and let the excess drip off. Then coat it in the panko. Place the chicken on the baking sheet. Repeat this with the remaining chicken pieces.
Place in your preheated oven for 5-10 minutes, or until the bread crumbs turn golden brown.
Meanwhile, make your sauce: melt a tablespoon of butter over moderate heat in a heavy sauce pan. Mince the garlic, and sauté until you start to smell the aroma. You five senses are your best tools in the kitchen. At this time add the chicken stock, caper juice, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Turn the heat up to medium-high, and let it simmer away while you continue to the next step.
*Taste your sauce as you go along, if you feel it needs more salt add more salt. If you find the brine of the capers to be overwhelming then even it out with some more chicken stock. In the case of any recipe where you add more of a liquid, heat it in a sauce pan or the microwave first. This way the cooking time of your sauce, soup, risotto ect. won’t be slowed down because you brought the temperature down by adding a cold liquid.
In a small bowl, smear together the 1-1/2 Tbsp. of butter and flour. Stir it into your sauce. You should see it begin to thicken up right away. Once it has reduced by about half, add the capers and turn the heat down to low. Slowly stir in the remaining butter. Check seasoning.
By this time your chicken should be done. If you wish, serve it over some long pasta or rice (start before you put the chicken in). Place the chicken on top of the mound of pasta or rice, and spoon the sauce over it. Some fresh grated parmeseano reggiano.
