Easy Lemon-Chicken Piccata

I love finding new favorite foods, don't you? I think the first time I tried chicken piccata was at a work banquet that offered very limited meal options. I had never heard of chicken piccata before, but knew I liked chicken and I liked lemon. I didn't even know what capers were. Still not quite sure what food group they fall under. Anyway, sort of by accident, I tried my first chicken piccata and now it's one of my favorite dishes.

I never would have thought it would be an easy dish to make. You see all these fancy things on the menu at restaurants that look so pretty and taste so good you would never dream of attempting them at home. Well I am sure glad I made the effort to find and try this recipe. Fairly simple ingredients and instructions, great taste and goes wonderfully with a simple angel hair pasta dish (or my favorite: Pasta Roni). It gets bonus points because it only uses one pan!

• 3 large lemons, divided
• 4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 lb)
• 1/4 cup reduced fat mayonnaise with olive oil
• 22 Ritz crackers, finely crushed, about 1 cup
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp chopped fresh parsley
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1 Tbsp capers

Cut 4 thin lemon slices from half of 1 lemon; squeeze juice from remaining lemons. Coat chicken with mayo, then cracker crumbs.

Heat oil in large skillet on medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook 5 minutes and then turn. Cook 5 minutes on medium heat or until chicken is golden brown on both sides and done. Transfer chicken to platter; sprinkle with parsley. Cover to keep warm. Carefully wipe any crumbs from the skillet with a paper towel.

Add lemon juice and broth to skillet; cook on medium-high heat 6-8 minutes or until slightly reduced, stirring occasionally. Add butter, lemon slices and capers; cook and stir on low heat 3-4 minutes or until butter is melted and lemons are heated through. Serve over chicken.

NOTES: make sure you have thin chicken breasts otherwise you will burn your crumbs before the chicken is cooked (Doug learned this the hard way). Also, if you don't mind dirtying up another pan, start making the lemon broth at the same time you make the chicken so that it's all ready to go at the same time.

Get the kids (or hubby) in the kitchen with something easy to do: put the Ritz crackers in a plastic bag and let them bang away at it. This last time Doug was in a bit of a rush and didn't smash the crackers very small. They don't stick to the chicken very well when they are chunky and heavy so you really want to let your aggression out on these crackers before coating the chicken with them. What kid (or hubby) doesn't like to play with their food before they eat it?!

Serves: 4
Prep Time: 35 min
Total Time: 35 min

Recipe from www.KraftRecipes.com