This chicken recipe is a quick and utterly delicious weekday meal. Veal and chicken breast scallops are most commonly used in a piccata, but I had chicken thighs on hand, so used those.

Frankly, I prefer the moist, dark and flavorful thigh meat in this recipe.

Though taking "poetic license" by using thigh meat and other non-traditional odds and ends, this recipe still qualifies for "piccata" status.

According to "allexperts.com" website: "...the word ‘piccata' means 'tasty, savoury, spicy, piquant', as this dish is tasty, thanks to lemon juice, parsley and capers."

If you were ordering this off the menu at an Italian restaurant, you could expect to have a lot of butter in your sauce. Adding a tablespoon (or two!) of unsalted butter, of course, would add an additional element of richness to the dish.

I decided to only use olive oil, banking the calories for another time. I didn't miss the butter in the least with all of the marvelous flavors in this recipe.

Make sure your oil is the right temperature when cooking the cutlets. A pinch of flour will sizzle in the pan when it is ready for the chicken. Shake the excess flour off the chicken before cooking and don't crowd the chicken in the pan. You will probably need to regulate the heat when cooking the chicken so the chicken sizzles but does not burn.

Yield: 4 servings
Cost: Approx. $7.50 (if using thighs)
Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

6-8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (or 4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves)
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
4 ounces shiitakes, cleaned, stemmed and sliced (1 1/2-2 cups)
2 teaspoons minced garlic or finely chopped shallot
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup chicken stock
2 tablespoons lemon juice (reserve lemon zest for garnish, if desired)
2 teaspoons capers
1tablespoon chopped thyme or parsley, plus additional sprigs for garnish

Directions

1. Place chicken between sheets of plastic or wax paper and pound lightly to 1/2 inch thickness.
2. Season both sides of chicken with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. Put flour on plate. Pat chicken in flour to lightly coat both sides.
3. Heat one tablespoon olive oil in large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add mushrooms and garlic or shallots and cook until softened, 2 minutes. Remove mushrooms and garlic or shallot from pan and reserve.
4. Over medium high heat, heat remaining olive oil and cook chicken, in batches if necessary, 6-7 minutes per side or until golden brown and cooked through. (Note chicken thighs take longer to cook than chicken breasts.)
5. Remove chicken from pan. Pour wine, stock and lemon juice into pan; simmer till reduced by half. Add capers. return chicken and mushrooms to pan, and coat with the sauce. Sprinkle with thyme or parsley and serve.