BY KAREN BOSSICK
March means more than St. Patrick’s Day and shamrocks. It also means March for Meals—a month-long drive to raise funds to provide Meals for Wheels for homebound seniors and disabled clients.
With that in mind, Marie Gallo invited The Senior Connection’s cook Daisy Arenas into her kitchen to show how to cook Chicken Piccata, one of the meals that is served to Meals on Wheels clients and to those dining in at The Senior Connection weekdays.
Arenas, 23, was born and raised in Hailey and graduated from Wood River High School in 2018. She loves cars and is studying business management at College of Southern Idaho. Arenas said she learned her passion for cooking from her mother, who cooks shrimp tamales in the way she learned growing up in Sinaloa, a northwestern Mexican state that faces Baja California Sur.
Chicken Piccata
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, butterflied and cut in half
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
all-purpose flour
6 tablespoons olive oil
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice ½ cup chicken stock
¼ cup brined capers, rinsed
fresh chopped parsley
Season both sides of chicken with salt and pepper. Dredge in flour. In a large skillet over medium heat, melt 2 tablespoons of butter with 3 tablespoons olive oil. When the two start to sizzle, add two pieces of chicken and cook for three minutes. Once browned, flip and cook the other side for three minutes. Remove and transfer to plate.
Melt two more tablespoons butter with 2 tablespoons olive oil and repeat the process with the other two pieces of chicken. Remove pan from heat and add chicken to the plate.
Pour the lemon juice, stock and capers into the pan. Return the pan to the stove and bring it to a boil, scraping up chicken bits from the pan for extra flavor. Return the chicken to the pan and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove chicken to platter. Add remaining 2 tablespoons butter to sauce and whisk vigorously. Pour sauce over chicken and garnish with parsley.
DID YOU KNOW?
Weekend Meals on Wheels service was recently reinstated in Ada, Adams, Boise, Canyon, Gem, Idaho, Payette, Owyhee Elmore and Washington counties, thanks to a $162,000 donation by St. Luke’s and SelectHealth. Those meals had been discontinued in October 2022 due to an increase in demand.