Walnut Crusted Chicken Piccata with Vine Tomatoes

This is such an easy and delicious meal to make. Tender chicken breast in a lemon sauce with roasted tomatoes. I think I threw this together in just twenty minutes. It is a fast, healthy dinner when you're short on time.

Piccata is a method of preparing food. Meat is sliced or pounded (or both), coated, sautéed and served in a sauce. Piccata is usually served in a butter sauce, but as I wanted to make this dairy free I used chicken stock instead with olive oil.

I served ours with courgetti as we were having this as a late supper. I think it would also be great over some steamed vegetables.

Ingredients:

For the Roasted Tomatoes and Lemons:

• 1 package of vine tomatoes
• 1 lemon, thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

 For the Chicken Piccata

• 2 medium chicken breasts
• salt & freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 cup of walnuts
• 1-2 Tbsp. coconut oil for frying
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tbsp capers, drained and rinsed
• 2-3 tbsp chicken stock
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• juice of one lemon
• courgetti, for serving if desired
• sliced lemons, for serving
• 1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped, for serving

How To:

For the roasted tomatoes and lemons:

1. Preheat oven to 200°C.
2. Place your vine tomatoes and sliced lemon on a baking try with a sheet of parchment paper underneath. Drizzle olive oil over the tomatoes and season with salt and ground pepper.
3. Roast in the oven, until the tomato skins split a little and lemon slices are lightly browned, about 10-15 minutes.

For the Chicken:

1. Heat a large pan to a medium heat with two tablespoons of coconut or olive oil.
2. While pan is heating, cut each breast in half horizontally to make thinner and pound to make them 1cm thick. Season with salt and pepper. I also cut mine into pieces.
3. Pulse walnuts in a food processor until they resemble fine breadcrumbs and pour onto a shallow plate. Press chicken down onto the ground walnuts to coat them on both sides. Shake off excess.
4. Brown chicken on both sides over medium heat, two to three minutes. Outside should be golden and crispy, and the inside should be cooked through. DO NOT OVERCOOK!! Remove to a plate when brown and cover with tin foil to keep warm.
5. Take the pan off the heat and add in minced garlic and the capers. Stir well so the garlic doesn't burn.
6. When fragrant (thirty seconds), add white wine and lemon juice and place pan back on heat. After a minute of stirring, add the chicken stock and one tablespoon of oilve oil.
7. Heat to a light boil and let sauce cook until reduced a little bit. Slide the chicken back into the pan and coat with the sauce. Simmer together over a medium-low heat until sauce has reduced by half. Taste and season as needed.
8. Portion out the chicken pieces and pour the sauce on top and serve with the roasted lemon slices and tomatoes on the side and fresh parsley sprinkled over the top.
9. I served ours on a bed of steamed courgetti.

I hope you'll enjoy this recipe. Check out my Pinterest Board with all of my other recipes here.

Emma x