Project Description

Aunt Michele’s Famous Chicken

Aunt Michele’s Famous Chicken – when you want to impress a guest or just yourself! Check out the blog post Table For One, where it was first introduced.

Although this recipe ended up being a go-to for me when I was cooking for just me, I first made this dish for my dear friend Mar and her lovely family, years ago. If you want someone to cook for, just pick someone. For this dinner, I wanted an alternative to my usual staples of pasta and chicken cutlets. In particular, I wanted an alternative to chicken. The secret to Aunt Michele’s Famous Chicken is that it does not contain any chicken. Nope, not a vegetarian dish either. This was a “trick your kids into eating dinner” hidden ingredient! Of course you can make it with chicken as well or even thinly sliced beef, but my favorite is veal.

Ingredients

  • Olive Oil (enough to lightly coat skillet)
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2 cloves of garlic (slightly crushed or cut in half)
  • 1 lb thinly sliced veal (for cutlets)
  • 1/2 tsp dried thyme
  • 1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley (or to your taste)
  • 1/3 cup of white wine
  • 2/3 cup chicken broth or your preferred type of broth (if you add water, a little extra wine and seasoning, no one will know.  We’ll call that plan b).
  • 1 tab of butter (optional)
  • 1 cup of flour

Instructions

  1. Heat oil in a large skillet (enough to lightly coat the pan).
  2. Add garlic and bay leaf.  Saute the garlic until it is golden, then discard (I will ALWAYS tell you to discard garlic because I do not like chewing into garlic. Remember, a recipe is just a suggestion).
  3. Salt and pepper both sides of the veal to taste, then dredge in flour shaking off any exces flour.
  4. Place the veal pieces into the oil for about 1-2 minutes or until the edges begin to color. Turn the veal and continue to cook until meat is lightly colored on both sides.
  5. Then add white wine and thyme. Let the wine cook uncovered for about 3 minutes or until the alcohol has evaporated.
  6. Add the chicken broth (or plan b) and parsley.  Lower heat.  Cover and let simmer for about 10 -15 minutes. Remove bayleaf.
  7. If you are feeling decadent, add a tab of butter to thicken the sauce.
  8. Remove pieces of veal to plate and cover to retain heat. Raise heat under the juice in the skillet and let it simmer until the flour cooks off. Taste it to determine when it is done. It should not have a heavy flour taste.
  9. Add some juice to the plated meat and reserve some extra for the table. Serve hot.