Chicken and zucchini piccata recipe: the one-pan dish to impress your friends

This chicken and zucchini piccata – which tastes like it’s taken hours to make – will make you look like a culinary heavyweight.

Chicken and zucchini piccata.

This is a one-pan dinner that tastes like it has taken hours to make. It’s also one of my favourite things to cook as the number one fan of capers, and look for anything to include them in. Here, sweet and salty capers are paired with lots of lemon juice, lemon slices (buy a big bag of lemons for this dish as you’ll need plenty), mustard, white wine and garlic to create a sauce that’s so good you’ll want to put it on everything.

Bre Graham.

I also wanted to find a way to cook not just the chicken but the vegetable element of the meal too, so thinly sliced coins of zucchini simmer away with the tender pan-fried cutlets of chicken along with slices of lemon, which become divine and jammy over time.

I like to serve the piccata on top of mashed potato (with lots of butter and nutmeg) or with a crusty loaf, so not one drop of the sauce goes to waste.

Don’t miss these other chicken recipes that are worth mastering here.

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RECIPE: Chicken and zucchini piccata

Ingredients

• 2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
• 30g (2 tablespoons) unsalted butter
• 70g (½ cup) plain flour
• 100ml (6 tablespoons) lemon juice, about 3 lemons in total
• 100ml (6 tablespoons) dry white wine
• 1 heaped tablespoons capers, drained
• 2 garlic cloves, finely grated
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 large zucchini, thinly sliced into rounds
• ½ unwaxed lemon, cut into paper-thin slices
• 3 tablespoons double cream
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• A few flat-leaf parsley leaves, to finish

Method

1. Take the chicken breasts out of the fridge about 20 minutes before you start so they’re not too cold and to ensure a lovely golden colour when they are fried. On a chopping board, slice each chicken breast in half lengthways through the thickest part to give four evenly sized pieces. Season the chicken with salt and pepper, then place a sheet of baking paper on top. Using a rolling pin or similar, bash the chicken to flatten to about half as thick, roughly 2cm.
2. Melt the butter in a large frying pan on a high heat until a deep golden brown.
3. Put the flour in a shallow dish and generously season with salt and pepper. Dust each chicken breast piece in the seasoned flour and place in the hot butter. Fry the chicken for 2-3 minutes on each side, until it has a golden crust.
4. While the chicken is frying, mix the lemon juice, wine, capers, garlic and mustard in a small bowl ready to make the sauce. When both sides of the chicken are golden, take the pieces out of the pan and place on a plate. It doesn’t matter if the chicken is not fully cooked at this stage as it will be heated through again in the sauce.
5. Add the zucchini and lemon slices to the pan and sizzle for a few minutes until they catch some colour and start to caramelise. At this point, pour in the wine and lemon juice mix and simmer for a minute or so until the citrus scent fills your kitchen.
6. Put the chicken back in the pan, add the cream and give it a stir. Turn the heat to low, pop on the lid and simmer for a final 5 minutes. At this point, the sauce should have thickened and reduced a little and the chicken will be infused with the lovely flavour of the sauce. Sprinkle over the parsley and serve. Serves 4

This is an edited extract from Table for Two: Recipes for the Ones You Love by Bre Graham (Dorling Kindersley, $42.99).