This recipe for Chicken Scallopini is loaded with flavorful personality.It’s great for any night of the week and the bold-flavored ingredients make it impressive enough for company. Seriously… mushrooms, artichoke hearts, pancetta and capers? The mushrooms are mild yet meaty and artichoke hearts add a nice bitterness. The pancetta is an Italian bacon and doesn’t bacon just make everything taste better? But pancetta is a bit more upper-crust tasting than regular bacon. Brined, tiny capers have a mild green olive flavor. Combine all that with the fresh and creamy Lemon Butter Sauce and golden, moist chicken breasts. Seriously, what are you waiting for?
This isn’t a complicated recipe, but it does require that you to be attentive during the entire process.
Make the simple Lemon Butter Sauce at the end of preparation or at the beginning and keep it warm. The sauce only takes about 8 minutes to prepare and is just thick enough to cling to the other ingredients when served and adds a light flavor of buttery lemon that is just right.
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Serve family style on a large platter or plate onto individual dinner dishes. And I HIGHLY recommend serving this dish with fresh spinach on the side to be mixed in with the Scallopini for even more good-for-you-but-tastes-amazing flavor.
This recipe is so complete that serving it with the spinach, and maybe some tomatoes for a dash of color, or a tossed salad is all you need for a truly memorable and classic meal.
The original recipe for Chicken Scallopini was given to me by my cousin, Jeani, who shares my love of cooking fresh recipes for her family so I knew it was going to be good. But it was more than that. It was so good that my taste-testers have demanded that I make this on a regular basis.
- 1 Tablespoon oil
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- 3 to 5 chicken breast cutlets or regular breasts, pounded thin
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, seasoned with salt and pepper, for dredging (for gluten-free requirements, skip flour and just sprinkle salt and pepper directly on chicken
- 4 oz. diced pancetta, approximately 1/4 cup
- 8 ounces mushrooms, sliced
- 8 ounces artichoke hearts, sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 Tablespoon capers
- 8 oz. linguine pasta, cooked to al dente and set aside
- Chopped parsley and Parmesan cheese if desired for garnish
- For Lemon Butter Sauce:
- 3 Tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
- 4 ounces white wine or white cooking wine
- 8 ounces heavy cream, may substitute regular whipping cream
- 1/2 cup butter, 1 stick
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Start pasta water to boil and prepare pasta at same time as the following:
- Heat the oil and butter in a large skillet on medium heat.
- Dredge chicken in seasoned flour, saute in pan, turning once until brown and cooked through (about 4 minutes on each side).
- Remove chicken from pan, place on a plate and cover with foil to keep warm.
- In the same pan that you cooked the chicken in (leave drippings in pan for flavor), add pancetta, mushrooms, artichoke hearts, garlic and capers.
- Cook until mushrooms, artichoke hearts and pancetta start to turn golden at the edges, stirring occasionally.
- Turn heat to low while you make the lemon butter sauce.
- For the sauce, heat lemon juice and white wine in a saucepan over medium heat, let begin to boil and reduce this mixture by about one-third.
- Add cream and simmer until mixture just starts to thicken, about 3 to 4 minutes.
- Slowly add butter, about 2 tablespoons at a time, until completely melted, whisking occasionally.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Uncover chicken and slice on a diagonal.
- On a large serving platter or individual plates, layer linguine, vegetables and chicken breasts. Pour sauce over the top and sprinkle with parsley and Parmesan cheese, if desired.
Adapted from a recipe given to me by my cousin, Jeani.
One word for this dish. DELICIOUS!
Had this over the weekend and it was delish! Reminded me of a chicken carbonara.