Chicken Piccata Stew - Photo Credit: Jeff Doucette
The best part of veal or chicken piccata for many people is the tangy, lemony sauce with garlic overtones, studded with salty capers. There just never seems to be enough of it. This recipe solves that problem!
Like most stews, the dish is phenomenal fresh; but once the flavors meld, the leftovers bring out the best in the combination of fresh vegetables, savory sauce, and tender meat. As with many Emergency Eats recipes, this allows you to prepare more than enough for one meal, so you can freeze the leftovers for future servings when you just want to thaw and reheat something hearty and homemade.
Perhaps you've never heard of a piccata stew. I Googled it. Google never heard of it either! That's what makes this creation by Chef Jeff even more unique! It seemingly has never been done before!
You're probably wondering what kind of piccata is going on here? Chicken? Veal? Pork? That's the great part - you can substitute any of those meats in this recipe. And if you want a meatless version - just bump up the addition of spaetzle, leave the meat out, and you're good to go.
Chef Jeff created a chicken version for this recipe and The Lady in Red used veal. No pounding, breading or frying is required, either. It's THAT easy!
Bon Appetit!
| piccata_stew.docx |
As usual, we use fresh vegetables whenever possible.
Ingredients for Stew:
2 boneless chicken breasts (or 1 lb. cubed veal stew meat, or 1lb. pork loin, cubed)
1 medium red potato (other types of potatoes are fine; the red skin just adds a bit of color)
1 medium onion
1 stalk celery
4 garlic cloves
1 Tbsp capers, drained (The Lady in Red LOVES capers, so feel free to ad more! She added a 1/2 a jar!)
6 cups chicken stock (vegetable stock may be substituted for a vegetarian version)
1 lemon (optional: a second lemon used for garnish)
1/2 cup milk (WARNING: do NOT use soy milk! It will ruin the broth!)
1/4 cup flour (The Lady in Red recommends Wondra. She learned a little trick from Chef Nicholas Hararay, who runs the #1 Zagat & Gayot restaurant in NJ: Wondra incorporates into sauces without lumps a lot easier than flour.)
1 stick butter
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1/4 cup dry white wine (optional, but recommended)
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
1/4 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground pepper
Normally ,The Lady in Red doesn't endorse brand names in recipes. However, Chef Nicholas Harary, of the #1 Zagat and Gayot rated restaurant in New Jersey, taught her a little trick. Wondra, is better than flour in stews and gravies because it blends into the sauces easily without lumps. If you don't have Wondra, don't worry. You can still use old-fashioned flour. You will just need a little extra whisking and elbow grease so your sauce doesn't have any lumps.
Instructions for Stew:
1. Cut each chicken breast in half the long way if you are using thick filets. This will make 2 thin filets from each chicken breast. (If your chicken breasts are already thin, skip this step.) Then, cut the filets into 1/2" strips, then into 1/2" pieces. (If using cubed veal, cut each cube into 1/2" chunks. If using pork loin, cut that into 1/2" chunks.)
 The chicken breasts - Photo Credit: Jeff Doucette |  You want your meat to be in 1/2" cubes so it cooks quickly and you don't have to spend a half day at the stove. - Photo Credit: Jeff Doucette |
The Lady in Red used veal stew meat. Be sure to cut them into 1/2" cubes before cooking.
2. Place the meat in a bowl and add the soy sauce. Mix well, cover, and put it aside - a little marinating magic.
Melt the butter in a stock pot. Add the olive oil.
3. Melt 4 Tbsp. of the butter and add the 2 Tbsp. of olive oil to the stock pot.
4. Chop the onion, carrot, potato, and celery into 1/2" pieces. (You don't have to peel the potato.) Mince the garlic.
Bite size veggies cook quicker than large chunks. - Photo Credit: Jeffrey Doucette
5. Sauté the vegetables with a little salt and pepper in the stock pot for about 5 minutes, until the carrots start to caramelize. Add the thyme and paprika. Then add the garlic, and sauté for another 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
 Sauté the vegetables for about 5 minutes. Add the garlic last. Minced garlic cooks quickly. It can burn by the time the other veggies are sautéed if you add it at the same time. No one likes burnt garlic! |  Add the spices during the sauté. |
6. Turn up the heat to high and add the white wine. Use a wine that you like to drink. The flavors of the wine will enhance the flavors of the food. I recommend a dry or mostly dry chardonnay that you really like. The best wine pairing with this meal will be the one you cook with. If you aren't using wine, go on to the next step.
When cooking with wine, the first rule is to use a wine you like. The best wine pairing with this meal will be the one that you cook with. For this particular stew, a dry white wine works best. Sweet wines are better for making dessert sauces. Cheers!
When you add the wine, scrape any bits from the bottom of the pot. The wine will deglaze it, and these "bits" add depth to the gravy.
7. Scrape the bits from the bottom of the pot, as the wine deglazes it. Bring the wine to a simmer. If you aren't adding wine, then do the scraping as you now add 4 cups of the chicken (or vegetable) stock to the pot.
Add the stock to the pot.
8. Add the capers. (Chef Jeff says to rinse the capers prior to adding them to the stew. The Lady in Red likes the salty, briny taste, so she doesn't rinse them. The choice is yours.)
Love lemons!
9. Squeeze the juice of 1 lemon into the pot. Add the rest of the butter.
 1. Making the piccata gravy: 1/4 cup flour/Wondra + 2 cups chicken stock  3. Adding the meat to the stew. |  2. Adding the gravy and milk to the stew. |
10. Meanwhile, on the side, in a separate bowl, mix 1/4 cup of flour (or Wondra) into 2 cups of room temperature chicken (or vegetable) stock. Whisk until the flour is incorporated and there are no lumps. If you are using Wondra for this step, you will have no lumps. If you are using flour - well - you probably will have lumps. Chef Jeff recommends pouring the gravy through a strainer as you pour it into the pot to eliminate lumps. The addition of this flour-infused stock will thicken the sauce.
11. Add the milk to the pot. Stir.
12. Add the chicken/veal/pork with any leftover soy sauce drippings to the pot. Stir. The meat will poach in the sauce while the vegetables continue to soften for about 10 minutes more. You can let it simmer for longer if you want to, while you prepare the (optional) spaetzle.
Eggs, milk, flour, and butter are the basic spaetzle ingredients.
Ingredients for Quick Spaetzle: (optional)
1 cup Wondra (or flour) <-- again, The Lady in Red Recommends Wondra for its easy ability to be dissolved without lumps
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 large eggs
1/4 cup milk
2 Tbsp. butter
WARNING: DO NOT ADD NUTMEG TO THIS SPAETZLE!
(Most spaetzle recipes call for nutmeg. Trust us; you don't want nutmeg in your piccata! It spoils the flavor profile.)
Incorporating the Wondra into the eggs and butter.
Instructions for Quick Spaetzle:
1. Mix all of the ingredients together. You want the consistency of pancake batter.
This is the spaetzle mixture before adding milk. You want to achieve the consistency of pancake batter. There will be a few butter lumps in the batter. That's ok. Just make sure you did your best to break up the butter. I find kneeding it with my fingers helps a lot!
2. If the batter is too thick, add a little more milk 1 Tbsp. at a time.
3. Using 2 spoons, fill a spoon with batter and use the 2nd spoon to push off 1/2" dumplings into the stew, which should be bubbling hot. The spaetzle should float to the top of the stew when it's done cooking.
The piccata stew is done! You can see that the meat is cooked through, the vegetables are tender, and the spaetzle ha has floated to the top.
Special Instructions:
1. Try adding 1" pieces of cut fresh asparagus to the vegetable medley. The lemon overtones complement asparagus nicely and add more color to the dish.
2. If you prefer rice instead of spaetzle, that works! Just prepare some rice on the side and serve the stew over it.
3. If you want a purely vegetarian version, omit the meat and use vegetable stock instead of chicken stock. Just be sure to add some spaetzle to give the stew substance.
4. Garnish each bowl with a lemon slice for presentation. (optional)
5. Leftovers refrigerate or freeze well for future meals.
Serves 4 - 6 people, depending on portion size.
Dinner is done.
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