“When are we having that again?”  Those words made my heart sore.  My eldest son asked me that while he cleared his empty dinner plate.  He’d just finished but wanted to know when I’d serve it again because he said it was “Great!” and “So delicious” (he) “loved it!”  It being a cross between chicken Française-Piccata-Florentine over rice.  I actually served the spinach on the side.

Now my other sons weren’t as effusive in their praise, but they too loved their dinner.  There was only some rice and small piece chicken left over on my youngest son’s plate.  They did a mother proud.  I love it when I find a dish they all love.  And I only made one adjustment—my youngest son’s sans capers.  Which considering all I had to do was scrape the capers off his plate onto mine, but still give him the sauce, it was easy enough and fine by me.  I gave them each a bit more chicken compared to vegetables than I normally serve, but since it’s not the norm, figure it’s ok. 

So, if you make it without the capers it’s Francaise; if it’s without the egg dip it’s Piccata; and the Spinach makes it Florentine. You can make it in any combination, it’s still good.  It doesn’t take long to make either, so it’s fine for school nights.

Chicken Française-Piccata (or Chicken Piccata-Française)

4 Chicken Breast pieces (I used a couple of thighs too, since that’s what I had in the fridge)

2 eggs

1/3 cup flour

salt and pepper

3 Tbsp olive oil

juice from 1/2 lemon

1/3 cup white wine (use a wine that you will actually like to drink)

1/3 cup chicken stock or 1/2 tsp chicken base (Better than Bouillon or Knorr) & 1/3 cup water

1/4 cup capers, drained

2 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

Tbsp butter

Cover chicken breast/thigh with plastic wrap (Trust me, you’ll be glad you did at clean up time.) and pound with mallet until about 1/4 inch (1 cm) thin.  In a shallow bowl beat egg, set aside. In another similar bowl mix flour with 1/4 tsp each salt and pepper.  Heat olive oil in sauté pan.  Take one piece of chicken and dip in flour then egg. Place in hot oil.  Repeat with each piece without crowding pan. Flip over after 3 minutes and cook other side until done, flip again if necessary (about 8 minutes total for breast, thigh takes longer).  Place finished pieces on a plate.  Pour wine, stock and lemon juice into pan and scrape any browned bits into liquid.  After two minutes add capers and parsley butter. Finally stir in the butter.  Cook for another minute. Serve chicken over rice or pasta and spinach, pouring sauce over all.

I know I’ll be making this (and variations of it) again because my kids really enjoy eating this!