Chicken Francese

This recipe sounds fancy - it is French after all - but it is actually very easy to make.

Ingredients:
1 and 1/2 lbs chicken cutlets
salt and pepper
all-purpose flour
3 large eggs, beaten
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 garlic clove, crushed
juice of 1 lemon (optional)
1/2 cup dry white wine (chicken broth can be substituted)
handful of flat leaf parsley, chopped

Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Preheat a nonstick skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Add two of the tablespoons of olive oil and 2 tablespoons of butter. Once hot, add the garlic and allow to sizzle in the pan for a minute. Meanwhile, dredge the chicken in the flour and coat in the egg, then add to the hot pan. Cook the chicken on both sides until golden brown, 6 to 7 minutes total. Transfer the chicken to the pan and cover loosely with foil to keep warm. Add the lemon juice and wine to the pan and deglaze by scraping up the brown bits with a whisk. Reduce the wine for 1 minute and then add the remaining tablespoon of butter and parsley to the pan. Pour the sauce over the chicken.

Serve with wilted spinach and either crusty bread, wild rice or cous cous to soak up the sauce. You could also add capers to the sauce to make it a cross between Francese and piccata. To wilt spinach, simply add a little more oil to the skillet after pouring out the sauce. Add some spinach and turn constantly until it starts to wilt. Season with salt and pepper and even a little nutmeg if you'd like. It cuts the bitterness of the greens. Spinach, like other greens, really coods down to almost nothing, so you need a lot.