Chicken Paillards with Artichoke and Lemon

Cut chicken breast in half diagonally

Whole chicken breast on left.

Breast cut in half on the right.

place one half at a time between plastic wrap

and pound with the FLAT side of a mallet

Kids will love helping with this job!

Breast on the left before pounding

Breast on the right after pounding

Sauteing the pounded breasts (Paillards)

in olive oil. Season with kosher salt before cooking.

They cook so quickly and taste so flavorful!

Remove cooked breasts to a pan and add

a teaspoon more olive oil to saute garlic

pour in a half cup of wine to deglaze the pan

and get up all those flavorful browned bits

from the chicken breast.

Add quartered artichoke hearts, red pepper flakes

and lemon juice.

The sauce is ready and the cooked chicken

breasts on waiting behind on a plate.

You can cover them with foil to keep them warm.

The finished dish! We served ours over Orzo.

My girls wanted carrots so we had those as well.

These are delicious, super easy and super quick!! A Paillard is just a piece of meat that has been pounded flat and cooked quickly. You could add butter or cream if you want to but since I love lemon, capers and tangy things I liked it just exactly as it was. You could add fresh minced flat-leaf parsley if you like.

CHICKEN PAILLARDS WITH ARTICHOKE AND LEMON

Makes 6 servings of 1 breast each

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts

2 teaspoons olive oil

kosher salt

1 teaspoon olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup white wine

1 can artichoke hearts, drained and quartered

Red Pepper Flakes to taste (usually 1/8 or 1/4 teaspoon)

Juice from a half lemon

2 tablespoons capers, optional (I adore capers!)

Trim fat from chicken breasts. Cut chicken breasts in half. Place one half between plastic wrap and pound with flat side of a mallet. Repeat with the remaining five halves.

Season each paillard (pounded breast) generously with kosher salt.

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, put 2 teaspoons of olive oil. Cook breasts until golden brown on each side. This is very quick. Should be about a minute in a half per side. You may want to start with high heat and turn heat down to medium-high)

Remove cooked breasts to a plate. In the skillet with all the yummy browned bits, add another teaspoon of olive oil and the minced garlic. Cook garlic for a minute or two. Add white wine and deglaze the pan to get all the yummy brown bits off the bottom. Let wine reduce for about a minute. Add artichoke hearts, red pepper flakes, lemon juice and capers.

Serve over orzo, pasta, rice or quinoa. Put the starch under the chicken and sauce so the sauce mixes in with the orzo or whatever you decide to make.

I realize carrots may not exactly go with this, but my kids love them so we had sliced raw carrots on the side. The sweetness of the carrots was a nice foil to the acid in the lemon.

203 Calories per serving