Sometimes recipes are very well written. The directions are clear, the proportions correct, and the process from prep to table smooth. Other times recipes are poorly written. Ingredients are required but not used. The main ingredient to accoutrement ration is all off. The sauce is too soupy, or the protein is too dry. Tonight’s fell somewhere in the middle.
On the whole I have few complaints about the Barefoot Contessa, but tonight something seemed all off with the version of this recipe that appears in The Barefoot Contessa at Home. A WHOLE CUP of flour to batter 4 chicken breasts, but just 1.5 cups of bread crumbs? 2 minutes on each side to cook said breasts, batter and all, over medium-low heat? I realize that often mileage will vary on specific aspects of a recipe, but this one was just all over the map. By the time the plates hit the table, I was frustrated and we were both starving. After all of that, though, the chicken was crispy and flavorful, and the delicate lemon-white wine sauce paired with both the intended dish and the small spinach salad tossed on our plates at the last moment. Chicken piccata I’ll make again, but maybe not this take on it.
Recipe:
Chicken Piccata from The Barefoot Contessa at Home
latterdaybohemian 
Hi Elizabeth! Love your blog! Hmmmm….I am wondering if you didn’t not pound out the chicken breasts to 1/4 in thick? That’s really really thin – about 2 minutes per side is all that thin of a chicken breast should take. If it took you longer than that, maybe you didn’t pound it thin enough. A chicken breast pounded out that thin will be pretty huge – about dinner plate size. I haven’t tried this recipe, but when I have made chicken piccata, it normally has a very light crust that doesn’t have any breadcrumbs in it at all. Were you thinking it should have more? I am going to have to give this recipe a shot…I am always looking for chicken breast recipes!
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