Recipe: Broccoli Baked Potatoes and Chicken Piccata (Lemon-Sauced Chicken)

For the Broccoli-Topped Baked Potatoes, here's what I have tried and really enjoyed.

Ingredients:
Baking potatoes, unpeeled, scrubbed and dried
Kosher or sea salt
Freshly ground pepper
Olive or Canola oil spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

With a fork, poke the potatoes generously so the steam can escape. Spray lightly with oil or rub oil from a jar on each potato until coated lightly. This will give each potato a delicious crispy skin. Season with salt and pepper on all sides and place potatoes on a baking sheet in the heated oven.

Bake for 60 minutes or until tender. When ready, remove potatoes and cut a slit in each spud from the top. Insert a pat of butter.

I would suggest you steam some smaller pieces frozen or fresh broccoli and serve on the side so everyone can add as much broccoli onto the potatoes as they need. You might want to purchase a frozen bag of broccoli with cheese and serve that instead of just broccoli. You could also just serve broccoli with Campbell's cheese soup on the side as a garnish, or some shredded cheddar. I also like to have sour cream and bacon bits available. YUM!

For the light lemon-pepper sauce with chicken...

Chicken Piccata

4 boneless chicken breasts, flattened with a mallot
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. butter
1/4 cup white wine or white cooking wine
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 Tbsp. fresh flat leafed parsley, chopped
1 clove of fresh garlic, minced

Heat the butter and olive oil in a saut pan over medium-high heat. Saut the flattened chicken breasts for about 1 to 2 minutes each side. Remove and reserve to a platter and cover with tin foil to keep warm. Deglaze the pan with the wine and lemon juice, loosening all of the browned bits stuck to the pan. Bring to a boil. Season with salt and pepper to taste, add the garlic and parsley. Plate the chicken breasts along with your sides, sauce and serve immediately.

To give proper credit, I adapted this recipe from The Reluctant Gourmet who adapted the recipe from a Veal Piccata recipe in The New Basics Cookbook by Julee Rosso, Sheila Lukins. I have not tried it, but it looks delicious!

Good luck with your meal and let us know how it goes! :)