POLLO CON CAPPERI E ACCIUGHE: Chicken with Capers and Anchovies!

POLLO CON CAPPERI E ACCIUGHE: Chicken with Capers and Anchovies, from Italy with love when you try this amazingly flavorful dish, you'll be surprised by how much flavor you can bring to chicken, we love it (even my husband and son who are not big chicken fans), great to make and eat!

This is a very easy dish to make, plus it can be a very quick dish to get on the table. I've regularly made changes to this basic recipe and changed the proteins since it's great with Veal, Beef, Pork, Fish and you can serve it as a Main Dish as is or over pasta or rice too! You can use a whole chicken or just drumsticks, wings or in my case I only used breasts, de-boned, skinless and sliced into scallopine, but you could also turn them into thin Braciole, Rollatini or Involtini as well (thin pounded steaks rolled up). With a few very simple changes you can make Chicken (or other protein) Marsala or other wine sauce, or if you don't want to add a wine or alcohol it can be made with chicken stock, a thickener, some herbs or veggies and you're all set!

To make this dish, you will need:

2 whole double Chicken Breasts with bone, if you know how to de-skin and de-bone, otherwise use       4 whole Chicken Breasts, sliced through the middle to make 8 thin fillets which will be pounded
1 cup Flour
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Black Pepper
1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper (optional)
1/4 cup Olive Oil
4-6 (or more) Tbl Butter
6-8 Garlic Cloves, chopped fine
1/4 - 1/3 cup Capers with some of its liquid
8 Anchovy Fillets, if salted then rinse off salt
2 Lemons, juiced fresh
1/3 cup White Wine (or your choice), I used Sherry
1 Tbl Parsley Leaves, chopped fine

You will need a large pan to hold all the chicken. Take the chicken and place between plastic sheets and pound until thin. In a bowl add the flour, salt, pepper and Cayenne and mix well. Dredge the meat through the prepared flour, shake off the excess and hold until the pan is hot.

Place the pan on medium-high heat, add some oil and butter and once hot start searing the meat. Turn after about 2 min (they will finish cooking in the sauce later), place in a dish and hold until all the meat has been seared. Once the meat is seared, then you might need to add more oil and butter, now add the garlic, capers and anchovies and saute until the anchovies have melted. Pour in the lemon juice and wine if using, now you add the chicken to finish cooking while lowering the heat to low. If using whole chicken or bone-in chicken then cover the pan and allow to cook for more time to cook the chicken completely but if using scallopini then 5 minutes should more than do then uncover the pan so sauce will thicken a little.

To serve, sprinkle the Parsley Leaves over top. Enjoy!

NOTE: For the Braciole, Involtini or Rollatini then once the meat has been pounded down, or you can even use vegetables sliced thin, think zucchini / eggplant / pasta, etc, take your filling material (like Mozarella and Prosciutto, Sage, Ricotta, etc) then roll them up, secure them with toothpicks or cooking twine, sear as usual and then finish cooking in the sauce.

I can also add more spin to give you even more flexibility, that sauces could also be Tomato, either smooth or chunky, white sauce or any sauce you want to use that will work well with your choice of protein and veggies or filling. I've used Poblano Peppers, Red Bell Peppers, Cabbage, Skirt Steak, they're all great!

So there you go, hope you'll try it and see how this can add to your family's favorite dishes. Surprise someone today! You'll be glad you did! Enjoy!