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In my quest to find new recipes and new styles of cooking, I sometimes forget about the old, faithful dishes that used to work so well when I was just starting out as a fledgling cook. One of my favorite things to cook when I was just starting was chicken piccata: chicken cooked with lemon juice and white wine and often capers. When I was deciding what I would make for dinner this week, with just a hot plate to use, I remembered my old standby, and I was surprised at how easy it was compared with how I remembered it.

It was just as tasty.

Chicken Piccata

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 cup white flour

1 lemon

½-1 cup white wine

salt and pepper

8 oz. spaghetti

1 cup thawed frozen spinach

Heat a skillet to medium-high heat. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Rinse and pat dry the chicken. Dredge first in flour, then in egg, allowing the excess to drip off, and then again in flour. Salt and pepper the chicken breasts.

Heat the olive oil in the skillet until hot but not smoking. Lay the chicken breasts in the pan and allow to sear, two minutes on each side. For optimal browning, do not move the chicken while it is browning.

Turn the heat down to medium low and add the wine to the pan. Allow to cook, making sure that there is always liquid in the bottom of the pan so that the chicken does not burn. Turn once.

Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti in the boiling water until al dente, about six minutes. Drain, reserving about a cup of cooking liquid, and add the spinach to the pasta.

Squeeze the juice of half a lemon over the chicken, and then remove to a separate plate. Add more wine to the pan if necessary, and scrape up all of the bits on the bottom. Whisk together and add to the spaghetti. Add the juice of the other half of the lemon.

Serve the chicken over the spaghetti, with cheese on the side if desired.

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