An average day as a personal chef in Beverly Hills

I tried something new today and asked my channel for some recommendations on how to serve chicken! It was pretty cool to hear some feedback from you guys. Maybe I’ll make it a recurring segment if you guys like it!

How do you feel about chicken piccata?

#cooking #privatechef #personalchef #food #easymeals #easyrecipes #quickmeals

This is a normal day as a personal chef in Beverly Hills. My client texted me at 9:00 a.m. and told me that they would be having chicken for lunch. So, I hit up my chat room on Instagram and asked for some suggestions. And Frequencies on Film suggested chicken picata. And I thought that was a great idea. So, no one seems to know whether chicken picata is an Italian dish or an Italian-American dish, but it’s usually a breaded chicken cutlet with a lemony caper butter sauce. My clients don’t really like anything breaded, so I’m just going to make sure that the chicken skin is crispy enough to replace that breading. Started off by breaking down my chicken and removing all the bones. Since it’s going to be served with a sauce, I just simply season it with my favorite kosher salt and let that sit while I prep the veg. First veg is sugar snap peas. As you know, you got to remove the strings. And then I cut it on a bias. I’m just going to give these guys a quick sauté to keep their crisp texture, but also cook out some of that raw vegetital flavor and bring out the natural sugars. We got these cool assorted baby squash from the farmers market. So, I just cut them into little wedges that are around the same size. This is going to help them cook evenly. Start them on medium heat in a bit of avocado oil and salt to get some nice color. I boiled these baby Dutch potatoes in salted water at the beginning, but I forgot to record like an idiot. But once they were done, I drained them, smashed them, hit them with some olive oil, and got them in the oven to get them as crispy as possible. I personally feel like chicken always has to be served with some kind of potato. Then I start cooking my chickens at a steady medium heat to get that skin nice and rendered and crispy as possible. While that’s going, I finally mince shallots, pick the parsley leaves, and thinly slice them. I’ve always been told not to chop soft herbs. Just one solid run through with a sharp knife so that you don’t bruise them. If you use a sharp knife and slice instead of crush, your herbs will also last a lot longer before they turn brown and turn to mush. This sliced parsley will stay nice and dry for at least a week. Once the chicken skins are nice and crispy, I pull them out and I’m going to throw those into the oven to gently finish cooking while I make the sauce. If you’ve never made chicken picata, the sauce is super simple, easy, and it’s absolutely delicious. In the same pan that I seared the chicken, I throw in the shallots and sweat those out in that flavorful chicken fat and pick up any fond that’s in the pan. Then I saute some grated garlic, just enough to toast but not burn. Burnt garlic ruins everything. Then delaze with some white wine and reduce until the alcohol is all cooked off. You’ll know by the smell. Then I throw in some capers with some of that brine. I add in a bit of chicken stock, reduce and start throwing in cubed butter while mixing to emulsify. If the pan is too hot, it will break, so be careful. Just throw in butter a little bit at a time until it’s fully emulsified. When it’s at the consistency I want, I throw in that fresh parsley and fresh lemon juice. I know some people throw in whole slices of lemon, but I find that adds a bit of bitterness that I’m not a big fan of. Give that a taste and see if it needs a bit more salt and it’s done. One tip for when you cut anything with a crispy skin, whether it’s chicken, duck, or even fish, is to cut its skin side down. I know it sounds weird, but that way the skin won’t slide around and it’s going to stay right on your protein. And to plate, I put that sliced crispy chicken thighs and breast in the center, surround it with those nice sugar snap peas, baby zucchinis, some of those crispy potatoes, and that vibrant, briny, citrusy, herby, buttery picata sauce. Picata sauce all over the chicken and veg before it goes out. Hope they like it. Thanks for the suggestion, brother.