Saturday, January 12, 2013

{Healthy} Chicken Piccata with Artichokes and Mushrooms



Chicken Piccata is an absolute favorite of mine!  Lemony sauce and crispy chicken;  just darn good! Part of what it makes traditional piccata so good, however, is that the chicken is heavily breaded and then fried to a golden brown in vegetable oil (blech).  Because it's just not that great of an idea to fry food in oil, I decided to give this dish a healthy makeover and it has become a staple dish to serve to company or any occasion. In fact, it's strange that I have gone so long without blogging the recipe. 

I've changed the dish by adding artichokes and mushrooms as they are fantastic for digestion and amp up the nutrition. Capers are a delicious add too.  I am pretty positive you'll love this winner winner of a chicken dinner and add it to your staple list too. 

Healthy Chicken Piccata
Serves 4

2 split (1 whole) boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed of excess fat and sliced in ½ in strips (about 20 oz)
1 can whole artichokes in brine, quartered + 2 T brine (You are more than welcome to steam fresh artichokes, but they are not super fresh this time of year, and can be hit or miss, so I use canned).
4 oz white or portobello mushrooms, sliced thinly
2 cloves garlic, minced
Juice of ½ lemon (2-4 T)
2 T chopped parsley
2 T organic butter, separated
1/2T olive oil
Pepper

In a large skillet, heat 1 T butter and the olive oil on medium. When butter just starts to sizzle, toss in chicken & brown for about 5 min/side. Add garlic, mushroom and cook another 5 minutes, until mushrooms soften. Add the whole can of quartered artichokes, 2 T brine, 2T lemon juice, 1 T butter. Stir well and simmer for about 10-15 min. Sprinkle in parsley and more lemon juice if you like it lemony and stir.

Serve hot and with some other green veggies (broccoli today).  I love to serve this dish over smashed (skin-on) redskin potatoes, like in the picture.  The resistant starch in the potato skins is a great prebiotic source, making this a great digestive dish, with the artichokes and fiber.  It's also SUPER delicious with rice or wheat pasta  I like to cook the pasta separately, then drain and throw right into the chicken & sauce, adding another drizzle of olive oil as I toss.

Nutrition Facts:

251 Calories
34 g protein
9 g fat
7 g carbs







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