Family Classics: Dad’s Lemon Chicken
slightly crispy chicken smothered in a rich, tangy lemon sauce and served over pasta with lots of parmesan
servings: 4
Ingredients
- 1 cup flour
- 2 eggs
- 4 chicken breasts, butterflied + cut in half (8 pieces total)*
- kosher salt
- vegetable oil
- 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- ½ cup cooking sherry wine
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 2 large lemons
- ½ tsp dried oregano
- 2 tbsp butter
- ½ lb dried pasta, cooked
- 1 tbsp chopped parsley
- freshly grated parmesan cheese
- freshly cracked black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Pour the flour into a mixing bowl. Crack the eggs into another mixing bowl and beat well.
- Prepare a large skillet over medium heat. Add enough oil to come about ¼” up the side of the skillet. While the oil heats, pat the chicken breasts dry with a paper towel and season well with salt on both sides.
- Add the chicken to the flour and toss really well to coat. Working in batches, transfer the chicken to the eggs, first shaking off the excess flour from each piece. Coat well with the egg and then carefully transfer the chicken to the oil, first allowing the excess egg to drip off each piece.
- Cook the chicken until golden brown, about 3-4 minutes per side. Transfer the chicken to a sheet pan and finish searing the remaining chicken. Once each piece is seared, bake the chicken for 6-8 minutes to finish cooking through.
- Meanwhile, keep about 2 tablespoons of oil in the skillet. Add the flour and whisk until smooth. Whisk in the sherry wine and chicken stock. Slice half of a lemon and add the slices to the sauce, along with the juice from the remaining 1 ½ lemons and the dried oregano.
- Bring the sauce to a simmer and cook for about 5 minutes. Whisk in the butter. Transfer the chicken to the skillet and coat with the sauce.
- Serve the chicken over pasta with all the extra sauce spooned over top. Garnish with a sprinkle of parsley, lots of grated parmesan cheese, and freshly cracked black pepper to your liking.
Notes
You want your chicken breasts thin for this recipe so that you can really taste the crispy battered exterior in every bite. Typically when butterflying chicken, you’ll slice into it and open it like a book so that you have a large, thin piece of chicken. For this, you want to actually cut the breast into two pieces. You can ask your butcher to butterfly and cut the chicken for you.
Or…
To Butterfly the Chicken: Place each chicken breast flat on a cutting board. Using a sharp knife, position the knife flat to the cutting board and carefully slice horizontally into the chicken. Keep stroking your knife through until the chicken splits in half, resulting in two thinner chicken breasts.