One of my all-time favorite restaurants is Buca di Beppo. We stumbled on this restaurant while on vacation with my family. We were at Universal Studios, and my sister who is a very picky eater wanted Italian food. So we tried Buca, not having ever heard of it before (even though it's a national chain). We loved their family style dining and fun atmosphere. But what we especially loved was the Chicken with Lemon. It has this buttery lemon sauce that's simply to die for. And I'd looked around for a recipe for quite some time, never finding one that quite duplicated the original. I even tried writing to Buca's corporate office to see if I could weasel the recipe out of them. No luck.But, the internet is a wild and wonderful place. You can find almost anything if you're willing to look hard enough. Fortunately, I didn't really have to look very hard this last time. Apparently others out there were looking for the same recipe, found it, and then wanted to share. And now I'm paying it forward. Because this recipe? Awwwwwesome.
I made this with fresh lemons from my tree. I didn't have capers on hand, and my family usually doesn't like them anyway. Since the recipe is for 2 servings, I doubled everything. Actually, I cooked 6 chicken breasts. It worked well. Plenty of sauce. A word to the wise: if you're like me and love lemons, you might be tempted to put some extra lemon in there. Don't go overboard. The recipe is good as-is. If you add too much extra lemon, it gets really tart. I still liked it, but the wee ones in my family did not.
Happy cooking!
Buca's Chicken with Lemon
2 x boneless skinless chicken breasts (6 oz ea) pounded to 1/2 inch
Salt to taste
1 cup flour
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup white wine
4 large lemons
1/2 stk unsalted butter softened
A small handful drained capers
Cut three lemons in half and use for fresh lemon juice. Cut the last lemon into wedges for garnish.
Begin to heat the olive oil in a 12-inch saute pan on medium-high heat. While oil is getting hot, lightly season both sides of the chicken breasts with salt. Lightly dust the chicken breasts in the flour. Shake off excess flour. Place chicken in the saute pan.
When the chicken is golden brown, turn over and brown the other side as well. It is important to brown both sides to insure the chicken is completely cooked through. When both sides are nice and brown, add white wine and lemon juice. Continue to cook for approximately two to three minutes. The liquid should reduce approximately half.
Once the liquid is reduced, remove the chicken breasts from the pan and turn off heat.
Finish the sauce by placing the softened butter in the pan. Using rubber spatula, work the butter into the sauce as it melts. Pour sauce directly on top of chicken breasts. Garnish with capers and lemon wedges.
This recipe yields 2 servings.
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