Looking at Food Porn

It has been awhile since I posted any food photos or recipes. Well, here it is in February and I’m trying a new recipe. As you might know I like my recipes to be ones that don’t require exotic ingredients or utilize strange cooking techniques. I am getting about 6 magazines per month that provide me with some new and often weird food presentation/recipes. I was enticed by the Woo-hoo deal at Kroger’s to purchase a jar of capers. They are regularly $4.29 for a little 3.5 oz jar. I got a jar for $0.79. I’ve been trying to find a recipe that sounded good. Low and behold the magazine came through – Lemon Chicken with Capers. Now I know that the test kitchens for Martha Stewart and Bon Appetit would never ever use canned anything so I made some substitutions. And honestly I’m willing to give up a little bit of snobbery for convenience!
Ingredients:
4 boneless skinless chicken thighs or breasts (I just cooked them instead of pounding them to 1/2″ thickness)
1/4 c. flour
1 t. pepper
1 clove garlic crushed (or 1/2 t. garlic powder)
1 T. butter
2 T. olive oil

1 can chicken broth
2 T. flour
1 c. heavy cream (instead of the broth, flour and cream I used a can of cream of chicken soup and a cup of milk – I mean if you want to spend the extra time, calories, and money go ahead but it worked just fine using the shortcut)

1 t. lemon juice (from a bottle instead of squeezing a lemon)
1/2 t. lemon zest (from my spices instead of zesting a fresh lemon)
2 T. capers drained and rinsed

Instructions:
Mix flour, garlic and pepper and dredge chicken. Melt butter in skillet and add oil. When oil is hot, put the chicken in the skillet and cook ~ 6 minutes on each side until browned and cooked through. Remove chicken and place on a plate to keep warm. To the skillet add lemon zest and lemon juice along with the can of soup and milk. Stir until smooth, scraping bits from the bottom of the skillet. Return the chicken to the skillet and coat with the soup mixture. Heat until bubbling. Remove from the stove and transfer to plates. Sprinkle capers over the top. Garnish with thinly sliced lemon wheels and fresh basil according to the recipe. Of course I don’t have any fresh basil in February so I used my slightly dehydrated basil. I didn’t have a fresh lemon so I passed on that. It was still good.

I served the chicken over super greens spaghetti. Sparky really liked it and said I should put it in the rotation. His only suggestion was to double the sauce. What I needed to do was use less chicken! I had purchased a family pack with 8 thighs and didn’t double the sauce… Total time (my way) 30 minutes total prep and cook time. Total time according to the recipe – 20 min prep time, 30 min cook time.