Chicken Piccata Revisited

Tony's mother and stepfather came over on Monday. It had been a while since he'd seen them--the last time they came over was when I made the Dijon pork roast in January--and since his mom likes to maximize her time with him, we invited them to stay for dinner. We'd planned to make chicken piccata again, so we just made more of the chicken this time. Luckily, I had pulled out the whole bag of chicken from the freezer already on the assumption that I'd make a portion of it for piccata, put the rest in the fridge for the next day, and use the rest for Tuesday's dinner. Tuesday we just had something else instead (in fact, that's a long story for my next blog).

This time, I managed to take a picture!

Unlike the last time his parents came over, they really liked this dinner. Marcus, Tony's stepfather, would probably be satisfied with eating just about anything that we'd give him. Pam, Tony's mother, is not so easy. Tony comes by his picky ways honestly because he gets them from his mother. Last time, when they came over for our pork roast, she said the meat was too tough. Needless to say, when I entertain, I put a great deal of effort into the food that I prepare. It was a big blow to hear that. This time, dinner was enjoyed by all parties, so this was much more of a success.

We paired the piccata with asparagus and salads to make sure everyone would have enough to eat. Pam had never had capers before, and she found them really enjoyable. It was really rewarding to watch people dip spoons into the serving dish to douse their chicken with more sauce and capers. Pam had also never eaten asparagus that she actually liked before because it usually tastes like dirt to her, but she was fond of the way I prepared it. My asparagus was coated in olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic powder, oven roasted, and then tossed in lemon juice and Parmesan. I thought that pairing the lemony asparagus with the lemon in the piccata would work really well together and it did. All in all, my Monday night dinner was a success.

I will say the most amusing part of the whole process actually happened at work for me the next day. I had told my coworkers that his parents were coming for dinner. The next day, I was telling my coworker, Brandon, that I'd made piccata. His response was, "So, you made dinner? Because you worked." I nodded and Brandon said, "My wife sits at home all day, and she doesn't make dinner. You work a ten hour day, go home, make dinner for him and his parents. I just can't."

That's right. I'm amazing. Be jealous of Tony.