Chicken Cutlets with Peppers Feeds: 4

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs boneless chicken breasts
  
• 2 peppers, preferably one green and one red, but two green will do in a pinch
  
• 3 tbsps butter
  
• salt and pepper to taste
  
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
  
• 1/2 cup white white
  

Boneless chicken breasts can be pricey, but they cook fast, and that's a good thing. Also, I buy them in huge bags at Western Beef, where everything is cheap as hell, and actually wind up racking my brains to come up with recipes for them to get rid of the fuckers in a reasonably entertaining way. This is a good recipe, adapted from an old Pierre Franey one, that I've cooked recently. Or to save bux, you can buy your chickens whole and whack them up, keeping the backs for stock; use the breasts for this one, and save the legs, thighs, and wings for something else.

1. First, if the chicken breasts are small, like from fryers, you want one a person. If they're big, like from roasters, cut 'em in half, so one breast will do for two. In the latter case, you may also want to pound 'em down a bit, as if they're too thick they may not cook through -- you want 'em a couple of inches thick, no more. I put 'em on a cutting board, spread a piece of plastic wrap over them, and whang away with a cast-iron skillet until they look right.
   
2. Melt a coupla tablespoons of butter in the same skillet. (Cast iron is great, cause it spreads the heat; if you're using a thin little metal frying pan, turn the heat down a little lower, and make sure to turn and move the breasts from time to time, so they cook evenly.)
   
3. Sprinkle the breasts with salt and pepper; for kinder who whine if shit is too spicy, omit the pepper on theirs.
   
4. Cook 'em in the butter, 3-4 minutes on a side -- medium high heat, you want a little browning.
   
5. Meanwhile, chop yer garlic, and slice the peppers into strips.
   

Now, some of you is looking at a pepper, with the stem up the top, and wondering what I'm talking about there. Get a grip! Here's what you do; take a paring knife, and jab it into the fucker near the stem, then make a sort of circle around it, angling it outwards. Once that's complete, take the knife and slice from top to bottom, then back up to the top. Pull the two halves apart; the stem and the seeds will stick to one. Take the other half, pull out any white ribs and toss 'em, them hold it over the garbage can while you hold the pepper half, whacking your hands together; this should shake most seeds loose and into the garbage. Look inside, and pry out any remaining ones with your fingernails and toss 'em. Then take the other half, pull out the top and dump it, then repeat to get rid of the white ribs, and of the seeds. Then whack 'em into strips. Capice?

Yeah, so, your chicken breasts have cooked on both sides, now, right?

1. Shove the breasts up to the side of the pan, and throw the garlic and pepper strips into it. Cook 'em for 4 minutes or so, stirring 'em once a minute, or thereabouts. It's okay if some get a little charred, but you want 'em to cook more or less evenly.
   
2. Pour in the wine; scrape up whatever crap is left in the bottom of the pan from cooking the chicken to mix into the wine. Cover the skillet (if you don't have a lid that fits, like me, just take some aluminum foil and wrap it around the sides).
   
3. Simmer over low heat for 4 minutes.
   
4. Take off the foil or lid. If it's really liquid, turn up the heat to reduce it a bit, but at least with a cast-iron skillet (whose heat when you add the wine will vaporize a fair bit of it), by now it shouldn't be goopy, but there should still be a little liquid.
   
5. Turn off the heat; add another tablespoon of butter, and swirl it around until melted into the sauce.
   
6. Taste it; you probably don't need to add salt or pepper at this point, but if it tastes bland, add some.
   
7. Serve it -- slap a piece of chicken down in each person's plate, scoop some peppers on top, and spoon or pour the remaining sauce on top of that.
   

This is good with rice (to sop up the sauce), and a veg. Last time I did it, I made pureed broccoli to go.

Oh, yeah--if one of your kids whines about sauces or vegetables, pull out a piece of the chicken before adding the wine, keep it aside, and serve it to them plain. If they object to a salted piece of boneless chicken fried in butter, for god's sake, then I give up.  ¶ 8:38 PM