Trying new recipes... we found a winner!

I took out a bunch of books from the New Castle Library a couple weeks ago - all cooking books. Easy Entertaining by Michael Chiarello, The Buffet Book by Carolyn Peck, Giada's Kitchen, and Forever Summer by Nigella Lawson. Hands down, Giada's recipes looked the best. They were simple, and most included everyday ingredients that you can find in your local grocery store (spare me your pinch of saffron, Michael. Some of us aren't millionaire celebrity chefs). I tried out two recipes recently. This one I just had to share.

Every time I try a new recipe, my husband gets a little nervous. You see, I had a bad experience with a Barefoot Contessa recipe a few years back, and he's never let me live it down. I'm not sure that it was Ina's fault - I think I messed up on the fresh herb ratio - too much dill in the herbed basmati rice that accompanied it. It was flat out awful. Anyway, so any time I try a new recipe he comes into the kitchen with trepidation.. "You know what you're doing in there?" And I invariably shoo him out of the kitchen. But I've been in a rut, and I want to add some new recipes to my repertoire.

So I gathered all of the ingredients for the Chicken Piccata. It always takes a little longer the first time you do a recipe, because you have to keep looking back at your instructions, running around trying to make sure everything is right.. "Crap I forgot the butter." "Is that what the sauce should look like?"  What I have learned over the years, especially after the Barefoot Contessa catastrophe, is taste and season - taste and season! So when I got to the end I hadn't added as much butter as it had called for, but I ended up putting the rest in to balance out the lemon. And more salt! Pepper! I boiled up some capellini to serve with the chicken.

The result was nothing short of fantastic. I didn't even fully intend to blog about it, but I brought it to the table and the presentation was so lovely. Frank said, "That looks like some gourmet shiz (yes he said "shiz"), you better get the camera so you can blog about it." I'm so glad he reminded me.

It tasted even better than it looks. I made the full 4 servings and Frank ate nearly three pieces on his own (ok, I picked a little at the third one). It was only my second or third attempt at using capers in cooking, and my God, the flavor! Those little pearls of deliciousness have been seriously underrated. I'm definitely putting this on my regular rotation. And it's pretty enough to make for company. Come over and I'll cook it for you!