INGREDIENTS

2-4 chicken breasts
Flour for dredging
Oil or butter
Lemon juice (fresh or bottled)
(1 lemon or 2-3 tablespoons)
1/2 cup white wine or chicken broth
Capers
Salt and pepper to taste
Garlic, minced
(optional*)

*For real! I usually don’t use it and I tried it the other day just to see, and the difference in flavour was nice but minimal

**Sometimes you’ll be advised to rinse your capers—this is only actually important to salt-packed capers, which you should soak before using. Brine-packed capers can be used as-is, although I recommend tasting one first just to make sure it’s not obscenely salty.

The capers are why I don’t usually salt this dish until the end, especially if using broth, which is often already salted as well.

DIRECTIONS

1. Butterfly (cut flat horizontally: think bagel, not chicken strips) or pound the chicken breasts—you want them to be thin so they cook faster. Make sure your knife (boning or chef knife) is SHARP and be real careful while slicing so you don’t accidentally butterfly the palm of your hand like a chef friend of mine did once. You could also just slice up your chicken into strips and while it would be uglier it’d taste the same, although you might need to add more liquid to account for the extra surface area covered in flour.
2. Heat your oil/butter. If using garlic, add it to the pan with the oil. If using fresh lemon, cut a few rounds after juicing and toss them in with the oil as well, to flavour the pan.
3. Dredge your chicken in flour (I usually season the flour with salt and pepper first, but it doesn’t make that big of a difference) and when your oil is hot, place chicken in oil and fry until golden brown on both sides. If required, cook chicken in batches to avoid crowding the pan.
4. After chicken is cooked, add white wine or broth a scrape with a spatula to deglaze the pan (loosen the stuck-on bits). It’s best to take the chicken out first before doing this but I rarely do because who has the energy?
5. Simmer chicken in sauce for a few minutes, flipping it once, until the sauce has thickened a little bit. Add capers** to sauce. If using fresh lemons, you can add some lemon zest here if you like. Season with salt and pepper to taste after simmering capers for a few minutes.
6. Serve. I usually serve it over some kind of a pasta (often flat egg noodles because that’s what I have in stock at home but I often see people recommending it served with thin noodles like angelhair that hold onto sauce really well)