Chicken Fillets with Lemon and Parsley

You can find the original of this Chicken fillets with Lemon and Parsley in Essentials of Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan. Some of the recipes in the book seem just too simple and easy to be true and this sure is one of them. But, like all the rest of her recipes, it turned out to be very very good.

“I know God will not give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish that He didn’t trust me so much” Mother Teresa

Fast and easy to make and the quickly finished product turned out great. It’s fastest if you do it with thin fillets of breast, but you could do it with tenders or boneless skinless thighs.

Ingredients

These amounts are for 2 servings to change the number of servings just scroll down to the recipe card at the bottom of this post. You can also change the amounts to metric

1 Tablespoon olive oil
3 Tablespoons butter
2 chicken breasts – sliced in half horizontally
salt and pepper to taste
1 fresh lemon
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley or 1 1/2 tablespoons dried parsley leaves

How to easily cook up your Chicken Fillets with Lemon and Parsley

Put a skillet on at medium high and eyeball a tablespoon of olive oil and 2 tbsp. of butter. When the butter stops foaming put the chicken in the pan and cook just a minute to a minute and a half on each side. If your fillets are thicker than the ones shown in the pic give them a little more time but no more than about three minutes a side – max. Remove the fillets to a plate that will catch the drippings and very lightly sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Add the lemon juice to the skillet and let it simmer for about 20 seconds as you lightly scrape the bits of chicken from the bottom of the pan, with a wooden spoon, so it will join the lemon and butter. Add the chopped parsley and the remaining tbsp. of butter. Stir it briskly for 4 or 5 seconds.

Then turn the heat down low and put the chicken and the drippings in the pan. Turn them over a few times for two or three minutes as they get a bath in the sauce and heat back up. When they are firm to a poke or read 165° on a meat thermometer they are ready.

Serve up your Chicken fillets with Lemon and Parsley on a warm plate, maybe with a thin slice of lemon as a garnish and some chilled Pinot Grigio and some of your homemade bread to dip in that real good sauce.