1 1/2 lb flat iron steak (about 6 steaks)
2 TB olive oil
1 Tb butter
Lawry’s garlic salt
Ground black pepper
1⁄2 cup flour
2 eggs, beaten
1⁄2 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 large lemon, one half cut into paper thin slices, the other half juiced
1⁄2 cup beef broth
1⁄2 dry white wine
1 tsp corn starch mixed into 2 Tb water
2 TB chopped Italian parsley
2 tsp drained capers, (optional)
Cut each steak horizontally and pound with a smooth meat mallet until about 1/4 inch thin. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle flour evenly over a flat plate. Mix beaten egg, Worcestershire sauce, and parmesan cheese in a pie plate until smooth. Add oil and butter to a large non-stick skillet and heat over medium high heat until shimmering.

Dip each scaloppini into flour and pat off excess, then dip into egg mixture and add to the hot skillet. Sear each piece of meat until just brown and remove to a warm plate. Add the lemon slices to the skillet and quickly brown and add to the steaks. Combine the broth, wine and lemon juice and stir up all the brown bits in the skillet and get the sauce as smooth as possible and then reduce by half. Stir corn starch and water together and add in thirds until you get a slightly thickened sauce. Add the parsley and capers and pour the sauce over the scaloppini.

Serve with a side dish that will soak up the sauce; either an herbed rice pilaf or steamed new or fingerling potatoes finished with additional parsley.

Chicken Scaloppini with Artichokes and Mushrooms
1 10 0z. package frozen artichoke hearts
1⁄2 cup water
1⁄4 lb cremini mushrooms, sliced
Lawry’s garlic salt
Ground black pepper
2 TB olive oil plus additional if necessary
1 1⁄2 lb chicken breast cutlets, pounded to a flat, even 1⁄4 inch
1⁄2 flour
2 eggs, beaten
1⁄2 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
3/4 cup chicken broth
1⁄2 white wine
3⁄4 tsp Bell’s poultry seasoning
1 tsp corn starch dissolved in 2 TB water
2 TB minced Italian parsley

Place artichoke hearts and water in a large non-stick skillet, cover and cook over medium heat until hearts are defrosted. Drain water and add the olive oil and mushrooms, garlic salt and pepper and sauté over medium heat until light brown and crisp. Remove to a warm plate.

Put flour evenly over a flat plate. Mix eggs, cheese and Worcestershire sauce in a pie pan. Mix chicken broth, wine and Bell’s seasoning in a bowl. Dredge chicken fillets in flour, dust off excess and coat with the egg mixture and add to the skillet along with additional olive oil, if needed. Cook over medium heat until brown and remove fillets and keep warm. Add broth, wine and Bell’s to the skillet and deglaze. Reduce by half and adjust for salt and pepper. Thicken with the corn starch mixture, if desired. Combine artichokes, mushrooms, fillets and coat with the sauce. Dust with parsley. Serve with orzo or cappellini or a really great baguette.

Scaloppini Piccata

I love going to a fine restaurant and being able to order a thin fillet of prime meat, coated with the lightest film of some egg and/or flour mixture and finished with just a wisp of an exquisite sauce. At home, I just haven’t been able to get a coating so light that it wouldn’t overpower the meat or get too heavy or gummy until I read Henry Haller’s The White House Family Cookbook.

The Reagan’s favorite dish was veal piccata and I have borrowed Haller’s method for coating fillets with just a dusting of flour and a slip of beaten egg and parmesan cheese. This coating allows the true flavor of the meat to come through and is the perfect carrier for a light pan sauce. You can use any meat that can be sliced and pounded into an even fillet, but if I’m using beef, I want some tender cut like a tenderloin or a cut with ample marbling like flat iron steak.