A Little Taste of Italy, from Paige, in India – Guest Post
Written by Rachel, Posted in Guest Posts, Thoughts
 
My lovely friend, Paige is a California girl, living in India. She and I were first introduced while I was still dating my Husband. We met for coffee and were instant friends. Even though we’ve never lived in the same town, we easily pick up where we left off when we’re together. She’s a sweet, wonderful friend.
I asked her if she would share one of her favorite recipes with you. Um, and with me… I can’t wait to try this amazing looking dish!
Here’s Paige!
If you look closely at India you can find similarities to the States but where we differ the most is in variety of food.  In the town in which I live there are 3 restaurants and they are all Indian food. This becomes a little bit of a problem since I don’t really like Indian food. I had to figure out what ingredients I could get here to make sure that I was able to have something to eat.
At home in California, Mexican food and Italian food are my favorites! So, before I left for India, my friend gave me the cookbook of Lidia Bastianich. She is an amazing Italian cook and most of her recipes include things I am able to find here. I love her cookbook because it gives the list of all the ingredients at the beginning of the book. She tells us that if we have this list of things in our cupboards, then we can cook all the recipes in her cookbook. So, I went shopping and bought what I could and we have been able to have some amazing “non-Indian†meals here in India!
Today I would like to share my favorite recipe from her cookbook.
She loves to cook fast! So, getting all the ingredients chopped up and measured out before hand makes the cooking of this meal really fast!
Aglio e Olio – Skillet Chicken Breasts
Last modified on 2012-12-01 02:17:21 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
| Aglio e Olio – Skillet Chicken Breasts |
- 6 chicken breast halves, skinless and boneless (about 2 pounds)
- ¾ teaspoon salt, plus more as needed
- ½ cup flour, for dredging the chicken
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 8 or more big garlic cloves, sliced
- ¼ teaspoon pepperoncino (I leave this out since I didn’t want it too spicy)
- 3 tablespoons tiny capers in brine, drained
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 cup Chicken Broth or Vegetable Broth (homemade broth is of course recommended)
- 1 tablespoon fine dry bread crumbs
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
- Trim the chicken-breast halves
- Sprinkle both sides of the breasts with salt, using about ½ teaspoon in all. Spread the flour on a piece of wax paper and press and toss each breast to coat lightly on all surfaces.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil and all the butter in the pan over medium heat. When the butter is almost completely melted, lay the breasts in the pan, with space between them. Let them cook in place without moving them, until they are sizzling. After about 2 minutes lift the first breast you put in the pan and check the underside. You want it to be light brown. Cook longer if needed, then turn all the breasts over when they’ve just begun to color.
- Quickly scatter all the garlic slices into the spaces between the chicken pieces, turn the heat up slightly, shake the pan, and stir the garlic slices around in the hot fat so they separate. After a minute, when the garlic has begun to sizzle, sprinkle the peperoncino flakes in a hot spot; toast for a minute, then spill the capers in several hot spots around the pan. Give the skillet a few good shakes to distribute the seasonings, and run the hot juices all around the breasts.
- Raise the heat another notch. When everything is sizzling hard, pour the wine vinegar into the open spaces and shake the pan to spread it. Let the vinegar sizzle and reduce for ½ a minute or so, then pour in the broth.
- Cook at full blast now, quickly bringing the liquid to a boil. As it cooks, drizzle the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil all around the pan, and sprinkle another 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Let the sauce bubble and reduce for a couple of minutes, shaking the skillet frequently, then sprinkle the bread crumbs into the sauce (not on the chicken) and stir and shake to mix. Within a couple minutes the bread crumbs will thicken the sauce visibly; cookshaking the skillet, until it has the consistence you like. Turn off the heat, scatter the parsley over everything and shake the skillet again.
- Serve right away.
Once you chop and measure everything, it cooks really fast. Because of this, I make all my side dishes before I start cooking this.
I have served this chicken dish over pasta (homemade by the way – also Lidia’s recipe) and I’ve also served it over mashed potatoes!
It is something we have at least once a month, here in India! The capers make the whole meal! I hope that you enjoy it too! If you do, Lidia has other great recipes that are quick and easy. Her cookbook is called “Lidia’s Family Tableâ€. It is on ebooks via the Kindle app – this is how I brought it with us to India!
