Recipe & Image by Julie Le Clerc
Chicken piccata is a wildly popular Italian-American dish usually made with chicken breasts, but I like to change things up and use a whole butterflied bird. The combination of tender roast chicken and buttery, zesty sauce has everyone reaching for seconds.
Serves 6–8
ROAST CHICKEN
1.5kg free-range chicken
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 onion, thickly sliced
1 lemon, sliced
20g soft butter
PICCATA SAUCE
10g soft butter
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
10g plain flour
200ml dry white wine
¼ cup small capers in brine, drained
1 tbsp caper brine
2 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley
Preheat oven to 180°C fan-bake. To butterfly the chicken, turn it breast-side down on a cutting board. Use kitchen scissors or a large sharp knife to cut along each side of the backbone and remove it. Turn the chicken breast-side up; use the heal of your hand to press firmly on the breastbone against the bench to flatten out the chicken. Season all over with salt and pepper.
Put the sliced onion and lemon in a pile in the centre of a roasting pan, then lay the chicken on top. Tuck the wings under the breasts. Rub the chicken’s skin with butter. Roast for 60–70 minutes, basting the chicken with the pan juices once or twice during cooking, or until the chicken tests cooked. Test by inserting a skewer deep into the thigh meat and the juices run clear. Remove the chicken to rest for 10 minutes while making the sauce.
Piccata sauce: Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the garlic to gently cook for 1 minute. Remove pan from the heat and stir in the flour to form a paste. Slowly add the wine, whisking until smooth. Return the pan to the heat and bring to the boil, stirring until the sauce thickens and no longer tastes of flour. Simmer for 5 minutes or until the sauce is reduced by one third. Add the juices from the roasting pan and simmer for a few minutes more. Stir in the capers and brine and adjust seasoning to your liking.
To serve, spoon the glossy piccata sauce over the chicken and scatter with parsley. You can discard the onion if you like, but I don’t, as it is meltingly soft and delicious to eat. Joint or carve the chicken and pair with your choice of pasta, roasted vegetables, steamed greens, or a simple leafy salad.
Love Capers? – click here for Julie’s Salmon Crudo and fried caper recipe