The Perfect Pair: Chicken Picatta and J. Lohr Wine

If you're looking for a delicious dinner option that pairs perfectly with a great bottle of wine, look no further than this Chicken Piccata recipe paired with the J. Lohr Estates Riverstone Chardonnay. This traditional Italian dish includes chicken breasts, butter, garlic, and white wine. It is served with a smooth, light lemon, caper, and butter sauce. The accompaniment of a glass of Riverstone Chardonnay makes for the perfect pairing, offering a unique flavor and aroma that will enhance the flavors of the dish. Whether you're hosting a dinner party or just looking to create a delicious dinner for two, this Chicken Piccata paired with the J. Lohr Wines Riverstone Chardonnay is sure to please!

Tips for Pairing Wine with Chicken Piccata

Chicken Piccata is a favorite dish of mine that combines butter, capers, and very subtle hints of lemon that creates a flavorful and acidic sauce, which pairs perfectly with a creamy white wine such as Chardonnay. For a classic pairing, I recommend enjoying a glass of the J. Lohr Estates Riverstone Chardonnay with this meal. With its light acidity and hints of lemon, you'll find that this wine perfectly complements the acidic and buttery sauce of the Chicken Piccata. As you will see in the recipe below, I don't add extra lemon juice or zest like many other traditional Chicken Piccata dishes because of the selected wine pairing. With this wine having a hint of ripe Meyer lemon in its flavor profile, I didn't want an overly lemony sauce to pair with it. If opting to exclude the extra lemon juice, you can substitute with some vegetable broth. This recipe, just like the wine, can be very versatile to suit your taste buds.

J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines produces some of the world's most popular and well-regarded Chardonnays, which they call REAL Chardonnay. What is REAL Chardonnay? It’s when the wine comes from perfectly sited, cool-climate, and sustainably farmed vineyards in Monterey's Arroyo Seco AVA. It's also using 10 different Chardonnay clones and aging using only the finest oak barrels. The range of flavors, from light and crisp to full-bodied and complex, makes each of J. Lohr's three Chardonnays the perfect accompaniment to this classic Italian dish.

The J. Lohr Estates Riverstone Chardonnay has aromas of orange, white peach, a little pear, and sweet oak with baking spices on the long finish, giving it a delicious flavor. The wine is medium-bodied, with a smooth and creamy finish. These flavors work perfectly with the lemon and caper sauce in Chicken Piccata, as the richness of the wine helps to balance the acidic nature of the sauce. The fruit flavors of the wine help to enhance the delicate flavors of the chicken. The medium body of the wine also helps to bring out the subtle flavors of the dish without overpowering it.

So, if you're looking for a delicious and easy-to-prepare meal to pair with a bottle of J. Lohr wine, Chicken Piccata is a perfect choice. The combination of the wine's rich and fruity flavors and the dish's tangy and delicate flavors will create a unique culinary experience that your guests are sure to love. Other pairings for the J. Lohr Estates Riverstone Chardonnay are seafood risotto, mussels in white wine sauce, roast chicken with apples, and holiday ham and turkey.

My Chicken Piccata Recipe

Serves 6

Ingredients

3 large chicken breasts, cut in half and pounded

Salt & Pepper to taste

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Flour (for dredging)

6 tablespoons butter, divided

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 shallot, diced

1/4 cup chicken broth 

Splash of white wine

1 lemon, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon brined capers, drained

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Freshly grated parmesan cheese

Instructions

1. Slice chicken breasts in half to make 6 smaller chicken pieces. Pound until thin. Season chicken generously with salt

and pepper. Place flour on a plate, add garlic powder and mix. Coat the chicken in your flour mixture.

2. Add 2 tablespoons of butter and olive oil to a skillet over medium-high heat.

3. Once the pan is hot, cook the chicken pieces for about 7-8 minutes per side or until golden.

4. Remove the chicken from the skillet and set aside on a plate layered with paper towels.

5. Take the pan and add a splash of white wine to help pick up the brown bits and add flavor. Once brown bits come up, add 2 tablespoons of butter and the shallots. Let shallots cook until they are transparent.

6. Add the chicken broth, the last 2 tablespoons of butter, and capers to the skillet. Stir until the butter is melted and turn off the heat. Stir in the cream. (If you want to make this recipe without cream, increase the chicken broth to 3/4 cup.) Mix and add lemon slices. 

7. Add the chicken to the pan and garnish with parmesan cheese. 

 To learn more about J. Lohr: REAL Chardonnay click -here-

Looking for other articles on wine?

The Bloggers Guide to Merlot for more on this wine & other J. Lohr wines click -here-

Salsa Verde Chicken Enchiladas

I’ve been making this delicious dish for as long as I’ve been married! It’s a perfect Mexican treat for lunch or dinner that can be enjoyed fresh out of the oven, frozen and saved for later, or as a tasty treat to take to family gatherings or to friends in need of a good home cooked meal. Let’s be honest…who doesn’t love some delicious Mexican food?

Ingredients:

2 ears of sweet corn

1 red onion

2 large peppers

1 lb chicken

1 cup rice (1 cup water)

2 tbsp salted butter

16 oz shredded mozzarella cheese

6 oz blended cheese

24 oz salsa verde

12 corn tortillas

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425

2. Cut onion in 4ths and cut peppers in half and deseed. Toss onion, peppers and corn in olive oil and place in oven for 25 mins.

3. Rinse chicken and pat dry (I like to use strips of chicken to cook faster, you can pre cut now if you didn’t purchase that way). Take a pan with olive oil and heat on medium. Once pan is heated up add chicken and let cook on both sides.

4. While chicken is cooking take another pan out and melt butter. Once melted add in rice and stir until toasted. Then add in water. It will quickly boil so add lid and reduce heat to low. Let simmer for 15 min.

5. While rice and vegetables are finishing up moving chicken to cutting board and cutting into small 1/2 inch pieces. Add to a bowl.

6. Once veggies are done cooking remove from oven and let cool. Once cooled and able to touch cut corn off the cobb and cut small almost minced size onion and jalapenos.

7. After taking out veggies turn temp down to 350 in oven.

8. Add veggies, chicken, almost all mozzarella (leave 1 cup out), 1 cup of salsa verde and cooked rice to a bowl. Mix well.

9. Take 2 damp paper towels and wrap around tortillas. Place in microwave for 30 seconds. This helps tortillas from breaking while rolling. Sometimes I do half at a time so they stay warm.

10. Put 1 cup of salsa verde on bottom of pan and start placing enchiladas. I try to stuff about 1 cup into each tortillas and roll.

11. Once all tortillas are rolled I put rest of salsa Verde over top. Then add on the blended cheese and left over mozarella.

12. Bake for 25 min and its ready!

13. Add any toppings you desire! Avocado, Feta, Cilantro, Lime, Sour Cream.. you name it!!

This is one of my favorite recipes to enjoy all year long. Its light, crispy and delicious for Summer, and come Winter I love to get creative and change the chicken out for left-over Thanksgiving and Christmas turkey. It is just as delicious and a great Holiday dish to add to the parties! I also love to double the recipe and freeze half for easy dinners on busy work nights or if I’m out of town and Scotty needs a quick meal. I do everything up until it goes into the oven. I freeze until I am ready to eat and take out then put right into the oven adding an extra 20 min to bake time.

Hope you love these as much as our family does!

Xo, Amanda

Whole 30 Chicken Piccata

Chicken Piccata has always been a favorite dish around our house and once we started the “Whole 30” diet, I had to find a way to still enjoy it! To our pleasant surprise, now that I have changed the recipe, we like it so much that we will probably never go back to the old one! Finding new ways to enjoy our favorite dishes while still keeping them healthy is the best thing that has come from being on this new diet. Another great perk is how it takes me back to our time Italy when we enjoyed this on the cobblestone streets. Although we couldn’t go this year, we get to enjoy our stay cation with Mezzetta right at home! I hope you enjoy making and eating this dish just as much as we do!

Mezzetta is a California based company right here in the USA and I couldn’t be more excited to support them! Other delicious treats from Mezzetta we have been enjoying on our ‘whole 30’ diet are green olives on salads, jalapeno peppers on EVERYTHING, and peperoncini’s in our lettuce wraps!

Ingredients:

2 lbs chicken cutlets

2 organic eggs

1 cup almond flour

1/4 cup olive oil + 2 tablespoon

4 minced garlic cloves

1 shallot

1-2 tablespoon arrowroot

1 cup chicken broth

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup Mezzetta capers (drained)

Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Rinse and pat dry chicken. Beat eggs in a bowl and put almond flour in a separate bowl. Put 1/4 cup olive oil in large pan on medium heat. Once olive oil is to medium temp (you can test by placing egg and making sure it doesn’t over cook) you can place each piece of chicken into egg mixture and then into almond mixture (making sure to coat well) then place into olive oil. Cook until golden brown on both sides.

2. Once all chicken is cooked place onto paper towel lined plate while making sauce. Clean out pan and return to stove top.

3. Begin making sauce by dicing shallot and mincing garlic. Add remains of olive oil to pan on medium heat. Add in shallot and garlic and cook until fragrant. Now add in arrowroot until well coated.

4. Add in chicken broth and lemon juice and let simmer. Once simmering to add a nice texture add in Mezzetta capers and salt and pepper until you like the taste!

5. You can now add chicken back in or you can plate it and pour sauce over, however you like to serve! I like to put mine over a bed of cauliflower rice and pour sauce on top!

6. ENJOY!!

This is a paid sponsorship with Mezztta.