Chicken Pinata…Or Rosemary and Lemon Chicken with Capers

Someone (who shall remain nameless but they know who they are) bitched that I didn’t IMMEDIATELY post about what I served with the rosemary garlic new potatoes. Normally I ignore such whining, but given the fact that this person defends our national security, I decided to acquiesce.

So dear readers, I present to you Chicken Pi-nata. This isn’t completely chicken piccata because there isn’t any breading, I didn’t saute it and I added rosemary. But the butter, lemon and capers really give this dish a piccata feel. Hence the name…clever, huh?

So this was basically thrown together after I decided I didn’t really want to bother with the added step of dredging the chicken in flour. Yes, I was being lazy but the results were divine, so I should be forgiven. Using the butter as a baster for the chicken meant no dry oven roasted chicken. Instead, the cutlets came out moist and full of lemon and rosemary flavor. I meant to add garlic to this recipe but forgot and I’m glad I didn’t. The lemon and the rosemary worked so well together, I think the garlic would have taken away from this great combination.

1 pound boneless chicken breasts or cutlets (I used cutlets)

2 tablespoons butter at room temperature

Zest of 1/2 lemon

Juice of 1/2 a lemon (can of course use the same lemon you zested)

1/2 lemon, sliced (use the other half of the lemon you juiced and zested…nothing goes to waste!)

3 tablespoons fresh rosemary, finely chopped

Salt and pepper

Good handful capers

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees

Pat the chicken breasts dry and place them on a baking sheet lined with foil. Salt and pepper both sides of the chicken breasts. Whisk together the butter, two tablespoons of the rosemary and lemon zest and using a spatula, thinly brush the butter mixture on each side of every chicken breast. Squeeze the juice of the lemon over the breasts, making sure to flip them over and juice the other side as well. The butter mixture may start to run but this is fine.

Slice the other half of the lemon and place them strategically amongst the chicken breasts. Sprinkle the capers over the chicken and the remaining rosemary. If you used cutlets, roast them in the oven for approximately 15 minutes. If you used chicken breasts, roast them in the oven for approximately 30 minutes. The chicken will not turn a golden brown, so do not use its color to gauge doneness.

Hopefully this will shut up the aforementioned complainer. But considering there were already complaints from him about my lack of meat related posts, I don’t think so.