IT'S BACK!!

Hey everyone! As promised, my blog is officially back! With my week of absolutely no obligations, I figured some cooking would do me some good. I can't promise that I'll be able to update as frequently as I used to, but I'm going to try for at least once a week.

Anyhow, tonight I made Chicken Piccata, the healthiest of the Everyday Cutlets in the Everyday Entrees chapter. What's even better, is that I got to make this meal for TWO people since my roommate, Katie (actually, more like an apartment mate, cause we don't actually share one room. Thank you off-campus housing), will be home later after work.

As usual, I took the chicken out of the freezer too late and had to help it defrost by running it under some cold water. It really had no bearing on the outcome, because that chicken was as moist as ever (not to toot my own horn or anything...). The chicken that I have is quite thick, so I had to half it, and was surprisingly successful. I suppose I've come a long way from my crooked cutting of eggplant, tuna steaks, etc.

I seasoned the chicken with salt and pepper then dredged it in flour. I had never done this before. If I'm going to coat chicken, I usually just bread it using the flour-egg-bread crumbs method. However, this was really good. It gave it just enough coating to really absorb the sauce, but not enough to make it unhealthy.

After melting some butter and heating some oil, I cooked the chicken for about three minutes on each side, then removed it from the pan and added some chicken stock, lemon juice, and capers. As that was brought to a boil, I thought it might be a good idea to make sure that the chicken was cooked all the way through. It's always nerve-racking for me to check the done-ness of meat, especially poultry or fish...and especially when I'm cooking for someone else. Whenever I cut into one piece to check it, I swear I do it with one eye open, bracing myself for some half-cooked nightmare. Fortunately, I did well this time. Literally.

As the sauce cooked I added some fettuccine to my pot of boiling water. I've learned the hard way that fettuccine takes longer to cook than spaghetti, and most certainly longer than angel hair. Last time I cooked it, it was still a little hard. I like my pasta a bit before it hits al dente, but definitely not crunchy. I still have some work to do on my fettucini cooking.

I added the chicken back to the pan and lowered the heat once the sauce came to a boil, turning the chicken every so often so all sides could absorb it. I then put the chicken and the sauce over some pasta, and topped it with some Parmesan cheese, of course.

I have to say, after not working with this book for quite a few months, I was nervous that I may have lost my Giada touch, but I think I still have it. No lie, this was soooooo good. Like I said before, the chicken was moist and it did absorb the sauce well. The sauce itself was a good balance between the lemon and the capers with nothing overpowering (I have a tendency to go overboard with lemon, especially when I use fresh lemon juice). Also, there was just enough sauce to coat the one cup of pasta I used. Overall, delicious.

It's good to be doing this again, especially now that I'm off-campus with my own kitchen about 7 feet from my bedroom door. No more Rachael Raying my way up the stairs with arms full of pots, pans, knives, and food. No more baking things in toaster ovens and using a makeshift double burner. And though my space here is limited, my fridge space has increased exponentially considering I'm sharing it with one other person rather than five. Yes, life is good.

I'm planning on doing this again next Tuesday, since Tuesdays and Thursdays are my easy days. Next time I'll be making one of Giada's Quick and Simple recipes from the Everyday Contorni chapter: Sauteed Broccoli Rabe with Raisins and Pine Nuts. Interesting, right?