My mother introduced me to a flavorful dish at a Mediterranean restaurant near her. We both enjoy this dish— locally called Chicken Palermo. Although I’ve cooked Chicken Scampi for my mom before, I have never tackled this lemony buttery chicken, so I though this would be a great opportunity to practice. Next time she visits, I’ll cook this for her.

The recipe is similar to Chicken Francese, but this version leans away from the French and more toward Italian. Including flavorful artichokes, capers and garlic in the buttery lemony wine sauce, it packs a lot of flavor and is just as Italian as our Corsican Italian name…Orsini!

This recipe makes a large beautiful platter of golden chicken and could feed 4 to 6 …. more than I would normally cook on a weeknight for just two of us. But, I’m hoping for some guests to drop in. A southern cook who was raised by southern cooks, I’m thrilled to share great food with everyone that comes in the door. Plus, we love leftovers.

So, let’s see if we can figure out mom’s Chicken Palermo dish adding our own touch to make this dish ours!

The paneed chicken is simple. The trick is going to be in the sauce….getting the right amount of lemon — not too much — is essential. Also, this should be a sauce and not a gravy. In the south, its easy to make gravy, but takes a little care to make sauce instead. All that in mind, here is how we put it together.

Ingredients for paneed chicken:

Cooking oil

4 Chicken Breasts

1 Cup All Purpose Flour

1/2 Cup Bread Crumbs (I used Italian style bread crumbs)

1/2 Cup Parmesan cheese

Salt, Pepper and granulated Garlic or Garlic Powder

Ingredients for Sauce:

1/2 Stick Butter (4 Tablespoons)

2 Tablespoons All Purpose Flour

1/2 Cup White Wine

Juice of 1/2 Lemon (see my hint below on how to get the most juice from your lemon.)

1/2 Cup Chicken Broth (plus additional if thinning is necessary)

1/4 Cup Milk

1/2 Cup chopped Artichoke Quarters

2 Tablespoon Capers

1 Tablespoon Minced Garlic in Oil or Water

Additional Parmesan Cheese and fresh Parsley for Topping (if desired)

Instructions:

Let’s start with the paneed chicken filets — these look complicated but they are not. Beginning with four nice sized chicken breasts, we butterfly them by cutting horizontally with a sharp knife through the widest edge of the meat toward the thin edge, then folding it open like a book. This creates a large piece of thinner chicken.

Once butterflied, the chicken is then carefully pounded out a bit with a mallet to even it out. Don’t have a mallet? You can put the chicken between a couple of pieces of clear wrap and roll over it with a rolling pin. Add salt, pepper and a light sprinkling of garlic powder on these pieces of chicken.

In a 10” – 12” skillet, add cooking oil to coat the bottom of the pan. You will need a large enough surface to hold the butterflied piece of chicken or you can cut the piece of chicken in half to fit a smaller pan.

The dredge for the chicken is about a cup of flour, a half cup of bread crumbs and about a half cup of Parmesan cheese.

Once the oil is hot, dredge the chicken lightly, one piece at a time, and put it in the hot pan. We don’t want a heavy crust on this chicken. Brown until golden on one side then flip. Once the chicken reaches 165 degrees, place it on a sheet pan in a warm oven to hold. Cook all pieces, reducing the heat of the iron pan as needed to keep from over browning the chicken.

Sauce:

If the bits from the chicken coating start to darken too much in the oil, wipe out the skillet and add fresh oil. I replaced the oil after the third piece of chicken so I would have some bits of chicken batter and flavor in the pan upon which to build my sauce but they wouldn’t taste scorched. Simply, I wiped out the oil with a paper towel and added fresh oil before cooking the last piece of chicken.

When the last of the chicken comes out of the pan, add 1/2 stick butter and allow it to melt. Add 2 tablespoons flour and cook until the flour is very pale golden. Add chicken broth, lemon juice, garlic and wine and stir, allowing sauce to thicken. Add artichoke hearts and capers to sauce and stir. Add 1/4 cup milk and allow to simmer for just a couple of minutes. Taste the sauce to determine if additional salt is needed. Add salt and pepper to taste. Thin with a little chicken broth if it in too thick. Remember, we don’t want gravy.

Arrange chicken on platter and pour the yummy, buttery sauce over chicken. You may choose to leave the chicken in large whole pieces or cut them into smaller pieces on the platter depending on your serving needs.

We served this chicken over pasta to catch all of the wonderful lemon sauce. You can also sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and fresh parsley if desired.

This is a delicious dish, an every day chicken dish or a special occasion dish. My husband loved this version of Mom’s favorite chicken Palermo. Can’t wait for her next visit to do it again.

*Juicing a lemon is easier, if you roll the lemon back and forth on the counter top for a minute or two.

Hope you enjoy this wonderful chicken dish thanks to my Mom! I always enjoy having you visit my kitchen and hope you enjoy your visit — even virtually.

Buon Appetito!

Kim Orsini

Iron Maiden – Black Skillet Cooking