You’ve read a lot about our twice-monthly dinners with Dave. This  past week, it was my turn to impress. When my friend Amanda called me on Tuesday to tell me that game night had been moved up to Wednesday, I panicked and resigned myself to serving pasta with a jar of sauce or rice-a-roni or… well, you get the idea. But after dining on Dave’s shark and lobster/steak, could I really stoop so low as making something store bought? Never.

Once I took a deep breath inspiration came fairly quickly. Mashed potatoes were a must. I have 40 pounds of potatoes sitting in the corner of my kitchen. That may seem excessive for a two person household but these aren’t just any potatoes. They’re Butter Golds, and they make the best mashed potatoes ever. Locally, they are also only available for about one month out of the year so when we see them, we stock up and then eat potatoes until we are so sick of them that we think we may never eat another potato again.

My veggie options abounded. As in, I had abundant broccoli and abundant lettuce. And that’s where the abounding ended. Seeing as how a pile of lettuce probably wasn’t going to cut it, I went with roasted broccoli. Delicious, if I do say so myself.

And lastly, I chose this chicken dish. I made this a while ago and it was a hit, but the pictures didn’t turn out. My husband was delighted to hear that this required a remake, as this dish combines some of his favorite flavors into one tasty sauce. And even though I don’t love these flavors on their own (capers? too salty… lemon? often overbearing…) blended together they are definitely tasty! I will gladly make this again and again.

chicken with lemon caper sauce
(from Cook’s Illustrated)

for chicken:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, halved horizontally, pounded to 1/4″ thickness
4 tsp vegetable oil

for sauce:
2 tsp vegetable oil
1 medium shallot, minced (about 3 tbsp total)
1 tsp flour
3/4 cup chicken broth
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp capers, rinsed and chopped
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley leaves
1 tbsp cold unsalted butter

Sprinkle the flattened chicken with salt and pepper.

Heat 2 teaspoons oil in 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until smoking. Place 4 cutlets in skillet and cook without moving them until browned, about 2 minutes. Flip cutlets and continue to cook until second sides are opaque, 15 to 20 seconds.

Transfer to large ovensafe plate. Add remaining 2 teaspoons oil to now-empty skillet and repeat to cook remaining cutlets. Cover plate loosely with foil and transfer to oven to keep warm while making pan sauce.

Add oil to empty skillet used to cook chicken and return pan to low heat. Add shallot and cook, stirring often, until softened, 1 to 1 1/2 minutes.

Add flour and cook, stirring constantly, 30 seconds. Add broth, increase heat to medium-high, and bring to simmer, scraping pan bottom to loosen browned bits. Simmer rapidly until reduced to 1/2 cup, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in any accumulated chicken juices; return to simmer and cook 30 seconds. Off heat, whisk in lemon juice, capers, parsley, and butter; season with salt and pepper.

Remove cutlets from the oven. Spoon the sauce over the cutlets and serve immediately.