| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 1 hr 5 min |
| Prep: | 45 min |
| Cook: | 20 min |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- 2 lemons
- 4 chicken cutlets, pounded thinly into scallopini
- Salt and pepper
- Flour, for dredging
- 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled
- 16 caper berries
- 10 large green olives
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 1 cup chicken stock or broth
- 2 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley
- Sauteed Spinach, recipe follows
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 5 cloves garlic, peeled
- 2 pounds spinach
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Squeeze the juice from one and a half lemons and reserve. Cut the remaining half lemon into very thin slices. Remove seeds and set the lemon slices aside.
- Season the chicken scallopini with salt and pepper. Dredge in flour, coating both sides, and tap the excess flour off. Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil and 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add as many scallopini into the pan that will fit without touching, and cook until golden brown, approximately 3 minutes. Flip and cook second side until lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Remove scallopini and drain on paper towel.
- When done with the scallopini, wipe off the fat from the skillet with paper towels. Add the remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil, butter, garlic, and lemon juice and slices to the skillet. Cook, scraping the bottom until garlic is golden brown, about 3 minutes. Scoop out the lemon slices and set aside. Add the caper berries and olives and cook, stirring gently for about 4 minutes. Pour in wine and bring to a boil. Cook until the wine is reduced by half. Add the chicken stock and boil until slightly syrupy. Return the scallopini to the skillet and coat each piece in the sauce. Add parsley and swirl into sauce.
- Divide scallopini onto separate plates. Spoon the sauce over, and add the caper berries and olives around scallopini. Add some of the spinach on the side. Finish by decorating each plate with reserved lemon slices on top of the scallopini.
- Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium heat. Crush garlic cloves with the side of the knife and add to the oil. Cook until golden brown, approximately 2 minutes. Add the spinach in handfuls, and season lightly with salt and pepper, and cover pan. Cook until spinach releases its liquid. Uncover pan, and cook stirring until spinach is wilted and water has evaporated. Taste and season with additional salt and pepper.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 4 servings |
| Calories | 910 |
| Total Fat | 58 g |
| Saturated Fat | 17 g |
| Carbohydrates | 24 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 8 g |
| Sugar | 4 g |
| Protein | 71 g |
| Cholesterol | 246 mg |
| Sodium | 1628 mg |
Reviews
All-time favorite!! Everyone loves it and always comes out delicious!!!!!
simple. wickedly awesome! the kids even devoured the left-overs. Only after they stuffed themselves just a few hours before.
I tweaked this a little because it was made last minute, and all of the ingredients were not on hand, and every one loved the lemon sauce ( the part I tweaked )!
I made this dish with my own twist on it. I used lemon juice but not the lemon to cut the tartness and it worked. I am not a fan of olives and I left those out as well. It was very simple and easy to make. I paired it with angel hair pasta and sauteed apples. It was amazing. Both my daughter and husband are picky eaters but they both begged for seconds. Do try this recipe. You will not be disappointed.
I had to save this dish by sprinkling about 1/4 tsp of white sugar (baking sugar). Before I did that, my mouth was puckering…almost inedible. The sugar really helped.
My husband hates chicken and I have tried hundreds of recipes to get him to eat it without a great deal of success. When I made this recipe he couldn;t stop raving about it and asked for it again a few days later. The lemon, garlic and olives all complimented each other and the spinach was wonderful. I have already given this recipe to a number of friends and can’t wait for their reactions when they make it. This one will definetly go into my recipe box!
This is the best lemon chicken I ever had. The recipe is a little more involved than I’m used to preparing, but it came out so good I plan to make it a lot.
I have made this dish several times, always with a request for the recipe. This dish is my go to recipe when I don’t have a lot of time but want to serve a nice dinner for my family. The spinach is a wonderful complement with the lemon chicken. I serve with rice and salad and you have a terrific meal all within 45 minutes.
This is a great dish don’t be scared off by the comments of the garlic turning blue. It is a reaction between the garlics sulfur content with some metals(copper,Iron, tin, and aluminum) and the acid in the lemons combined. You will not have this problem if you use a nonreactive pan (stainless steel, glass,or ceramic). If your garlic turns blue or sometimes green it is still safe to eat but your dish may also have a metallic taste which is why some did not like the dish.
This was really easy to make (even w/ a fussy baby on my hip – lol!) I added some seasoning to my flour (couldn’t see how you should just use PLAIN flour = boring!), and will probably skip the green olives next time (or try kalamata instead), but over all, the flavors fused quite nicely together … my husband went back for thirds!