Chicken Breasts Sautéed with Lemon and Parsley

First butterfly your chicken breasts (you can see the technique by clicking here) or have your butcher do this for you.

Very gently pound out the breasts to get them all to equal thickness so that they cook evenly.

Juice and strain the lemon juice then chop the parsley so they are ready at the end to finish the recipe.

In a frying or saute pan large enough to hold all 4 breasts without crowding heat until hot the 2 msk.(2 tbls) butter and 2 msk (2 tbls) oil (for this recipe I suggest vegetable oil).

Dry the breasts with a paper towel and lightly salt and pepper them. Then dust them with the flour taking care to remove all the excess flour from them.

When the pan is hot and it does need to be hot, put in the chicken breasts, outer breast side first (the presentation or skin side) and saute for 4 to 5 minutes. Turn them over and saute on the back side for about another 4 - 5 minutes. They should be rather thin so use your eyes to see when they are done.

When cooked remove the breasts to a warm serving plate and keep warm.

Take the saute pan and pour out all the grease from the pan and return to the heat. Now pour in the lemon juice and it should sizzle for a moment and the sprinkle in the chopped parsley and swirl around together.

Remove immediately from the heat and on the counter, add the butter in chunks and with a whisk beat in the butter while shaking the pan back and forth to help make the butter emulsify more easily. It should look a bit creamy.

Salt and pepper to taste pour over the chicken breasts and serve immediately with mashed or roasted potatoes and a vegetable or salad.

This recipe is super simple but does rely on several things to achieve a good result. It is a classic fish recipe, "Sole Meuniére" but works equally well with chicken or veal scaloppine.

Firstly and this is good for other types of sautes to remember, the pan must be very hot or the flour will absorb the fat in the pan and not saute. This means that the breasts or whatever you are sauteing will have a slimy coating all over them instead of nice crisp bits around the edges and a good color.

At the end of the recipe when adding the butter, remember that shaking the pan and using the whisk at the same time will help to make the butter emulsify more easily.

The amount of lemon is up to you, I like mine tart but perhaps you won't but it is the point of the dish.

This works great with almost all potato dishes, mashed, roasted or french fries.

Excluding the potatoes if you have had your butcher butterfly the chicken breasts or you use pork or veal scaloppine, this part of the meal can come together with cooking in 15 minutes.