Saturday, May 8: Three's Company

Laura's mom is visiting this weekend from New Jersey. She asked for some of Mike's fresh pasta for dinner.

Since it was sort of a warm day in Venice, and Laura's mom prefers whites over reds, we decided to pair the dinner with a white syrah. Yes, you read that correctly. It's called Babcock Identity Crisis from  Babcock Winery and it's a mere $15. It has a light strawberry color but it's not sweet at all; it's actually quite dry. It went down very quickly between the 3 of us.

Chicken Piccata

2 large skinless boneless chicken breast halves

2 Tbsp butter, room temperature

1 tablespoon all purpose flour

2 tablespoons olive oil
¼ cup dry white wine

¼ cup chicken stock

¼ cup fresh lemon juice

2 Tbsp drained capers

¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

Salt/pepper

Cut each half breast in half to make two large thin pieces. Place chicken between 2 large sheets of plastic wrap. Lightly pound chicken to 1/4-inch thickness. Salt and pepper chicken pieces. Coat each chicken piece in flour.

Heat 1 Tbsp oil and 1 Tbsp butter in a large skillet. Add chicken and cook until golden and cooked completely, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer chicken to plate and keep warm.

Mix 1 Tbsp butter and 1 Tbps flour in small bowl until smooth. Bring wine, stock and lemon juice to boil in skillet over medium-high heat. Whisk in butter-flour mixture and stir for a minute until sauce thickens. Stir in capers and parsley. Season to taste. Pour sauce over chicken and serve or toss chicken in pan with sauce and serve.

Mediterranean Artichoke Pasta

8 ounces spaghetti, cooked and drained

1 clove garlic, minced

1 Tbsp minced onion

1 can (14 1/2 oz size) diced tomatoes, drained

1 cup artichoke hearts; drained and quartered (canned or frozen)

1 can (2 1/4 oz size) pitted ripe olives, sliced

3 Tbsp olive oil

1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Salt/pepper to taste

While we don't normally do dessert, we couldn't resist this Chocolate Cream Pie on sale at Marie Callendar's this week for $6.99. Yum!