easy, yummy din din

I love my mom. I really do. We have a somewhat contentious relationship, but it is often times hilarious and we can laugh at ourselves, and do, often. Growing up, my mom was always good about making sure that we were fed, usually fairly healthfully, but the meals themselves were usually simple things that a working mom with 5 kids could whip up in no time.

Since I started cooking back in college, I have cooked many dishes that I never had growing up. An unanticipated side affect of all of this cooking has been that my mom has been more willing to try to cook a wider variety of things at home. If I make her a meal that she really likes, she'll make that meal again. And again. And again. Like, 2 times in a week, 8 times in a month, again. She's a creature of habit and if she finds something she likes, she'll stick with it.

This is one of those meals that my mom makes all.the.time. It's a combination of easy, reasonably cheap, requires little forethought, uses a very few ingredients (of which most are usually already on hand) and is really very tasty.

*Chicken Piccata*

4-6 pounded chicken breasts
2 or 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons of capers
1-2 lemons for juice
1/2 cup of white wine
1 cup of chicken broth
1-2 tablespoons of parsley
4 tablespoons of butter

Salt and pepper your pounded chicken breasts. Dredge them in flour and fry them up in a pan with 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil and 2-3 tablespoons of butter until they're brown on the outside, and not quite done in the middle. Take them out of the pan and set them aside.

In the hot oil, add the crushed garlic and let it sautee for a minute. Then, add your white wine and lemon juice and let it cook down for a just a sec. Add in the capers, chicken broth, 1/2 of the parsley. Let it cook together for a few minutes. Put in the 1/2 stick of butter.

Add back in your chicken and any juices that have accumulated. Cook the chicken through. Sprinkle with the rest of the parsley. Serve with thin spaghetti, garlic bread, and a veg.