Chicken Picatta

I love lemon.  There is something so fresh about it.  My Italian grandmother makes a lemon salad.  Yum!  Brad asked me a few weeks ago for some lemon chicken with capers and mushrooms, but I did not have all I needed to make it.  Finally, I got what I needed for it.  So, I took some chicken out of the freezer and whipped some up.  It was pretty easy, but a little time consuming with the cutting, pounding, dredging and cooking.  But it really was very delicious.  The chicken was incredibly tender and moist.  If you don't like lemon, omit the lemon and add some chicken broth, or more wine.
In my research of a good recipe, which I never follow, but use a bunch of recipes as guidelines and go with my instincts instead, I had some confusion to what the difference is between chicken picatta and chicken francaise? One is Italian and the other French, but they are basically the same thing, lemon chicken.  Anyway, here is my chicken picatta.

CHICKEN PICATTA

Ingredients

• 3 skinless and boneless chicken breasts, butterflied and pounded
• 3 eggs
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• All-purpose flour, for dredging
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced or crushed
• 3/4 cup sliced mushrooms (more or less to your liking)
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 cup white wine (I use Moscato)
• 3-4 Tbsp capers, rinsed (I forogt to rinse, didn't matter)
• 1/3 cup fresh parsley, chopped

Directions

Preheat over to 350.  Place butterflied chicken in piece of plastic wrap and pound out until  1/4"-1/2"thick.    Season flour with some garlic powder and salt and pepper and lemon zest. Whisk eggs well in separate bowl.  Dredge chicken in eggs, then flour and shake off excess.In a large skillet over medium high heat, melt 2 tablespoons of butter with 3 tablespoons olive oil. When butter and oil start to sizzle, add pieces of chicken and cook for 3 minutes. When chicken is browned, flip and cook other side for browned. Remove and transfer to 9x13. Repeat until all chicken is browned on both sides in same manner. Remove pan from heat and add chicken to the 9x13. Place chicken in oven.

Meanwhile, into the pan add the mushroom and let cook over med-high heat until tender, about 5 minutes.  Add garlic and cook about another minute.  Add  lemon juice, wine and capers. Salt and pepper. Bring to simmer, scraping up brown bits from the pan for extra flavor. Check for seasoning. Add remaining 2 tablespoons butter to sauce and whisk vigorously.  Add parsley and pour sauce over chicken.  Return to oven for another 5 minutes.  Serve with pasta (I olive oil, lemon juice, garlic powder, fresh parsley and pecorino romano cheese my pasta).