Monday, August 15, 2011

Chicken Piccata and Dairy Free Risotto

Our family loves Chicken Piccata. The lemon sauce drizzled over chicken makes the dish. When we started this journey of going gluten free and dairy free, I thought Risotto was not gluten free and if it was how, would I make with without Parmesan cheese and creamy marscapone cheese. I have been craving it for weeks and finally started to do a bit of research. To my surprise Arborio rice is Gluten Free. Wahoo, I was so excited. Next I was on a mission to create it without dairy. Last night I tried it and my family did not notice it was missing dairy. I hope you enjoy it, like we did. 






Chicken Piccata


4 Organic Boneless Chicken Breast or 20 Chicken tenders
1/2 Cup to 1 Cup Gluten Free all purpose flour
Olive oil for frying
1/2 tea sea salt
1/2 tea pepper
1/2 cup Organic Chicken broth
1/4 cup white wine
1-2 Lemons juiced depending on how much lemon flavor you want
1-2 Tbl Capers depending if you like them or how salty you want it


First pound the chicken breast so they are like a cutlet. If you are using chicken tenders just leave them as they are. Next put GF flour in pie dish or plate along with the salt and pepper. Get a skillet pan that will fit all the chicken and put the olive oil in it and heat on medium. Once the oil is hot, dredge the chicken in the flour mixture and place in hot pan. Fry on both sides until the chicken is cooked through and you have a nice crispy texture. Set Chicken on paper towel to rest, while your cook all the meat. Once the meat is cooked and resting pour your wine in the pan and scrap the bottom of the pan and get all the crunchy bits mixed into the wine. Once the wine is cooked off add the lemon juice, chicken broth and capers. Let it come to a lite boil and add the chicken back in. Put a lid on the pan and put the temperature to low so it stays warm while you make the risotto. 


Dairy Free Risotto:


1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
1 cup Arborio rice
1/2 tea sea salt 
3 Tbl olive oil plus 2 Tbl olive oil for after
1/2 cup white wine
2 1/2 cups Organic Chicken Broth heated, I do this in the microwave. 


Take a sauce pan and heat up with the 3 Tbl olive oil on medium/low heat. Add onion and cook for 2-3 minutes. Next add the rice and sea salt and cook for another 2 minutes continuously stirring.  Next add the wine until its cooked off. The trick to Risotto is to never stop stirring it. Now add about 1/4-1/3 cup of the hot broth and stir it until the liquid absorbs into the rice. Keep adding the same amount of liquid when the rice has absorbed the previous liquid. After about 20-30 minutes the rice will be soft and have a creamy texture to it and your hot broth should be gone. If the rice is still a little under cooked add more broth, but only a 1/2 cup, because you don't want it to turn mushy. Next, mix the remaining 2 Tbl of olive oil into the risotto and serve.


I poured some of the Chicken Piccata sauce over the rice and chicken and served it with saute green beans. The kids ate it up and asked for seconds. If your kids don't like the lemon sauce you can keep their chicken out of the sauce and serve it up like chicken fingers. Give them some ketchup or honey mustard sauce and they will love it.