Chicken with Butter and Capers

I can always tell when something I make is a winner because my BF will thank me not once, but twice (or more!) for dinner. He's always really great about saying thank you. I made this last night and he not only thanked me several times, but twice emphasized how tasty it was. This was also significant because he is not a fan of chicken breasts - he prefers recipes that have chicken chunks. His face lit up after I told him how simple and quick it was.

This is NOT a low-fat dish. I've been doing a ton of reading lately, and I've come to embrace healthy fat in cooking. Basically, without boring you with a lot of scientific details that I can't remember anyway, protein serves specific functions in your body. Fat serves specific functions in your body. Carbs are just fuel. But, if you eat clean and healthy (ie paleo) your body can learn to use fat for fuel, thus reducing the need for a high level of carbs in your diet. Carbs are the only macronutrient that don't serve a specific function.

Now, that does NOT mean you should wrap a stick of butter with bacon and eat it on a toothpick (I love Homer Simpson). But it does mean there is little benefit - and some might even argue that it's harmful - to buy into the whole low-fat craze. For one thing, low fat foods (processed ones) are often loaded with sugar or sodium or other un-natural ingredients to make them taste better. If you go low-fat and you're sticking to whole foods, you're probaby going to find your meals unsatisfying. Oh, and one other thing, when I'm talking about having fat in your diet, I'm talking about things like nuts, avocado, eggs (the whole egg - yolk, too), coconut (all types), olive oil, etc. Even grass-fed butter is thought to be an acceptable form of fat. Don't forget about the healthy fat in fish like salmon.

Anyway, I digress. So yes, there's a lot of fat in this dish, but it's all healthy fat. I can tell you first hand, there's a big difference between the fat from, say, chicken nuggets and fries and this dish in how I feel after eating it. I felt good! I served this with a green salad (full of veggies I picked up at the farmer's market) and some leftover potato salad from this weekend. So, so good. I got this off Mark's Daily Apple website and scaled it down.

Ingredients (serves 4):
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Sea salt & ground black pepper
Olive oil
3 T. capers (with brine)
Lemon wedge
2 T. butter (grass-fed is best, but I'm still using up my traditional butter)

Directions:
Cut chicken breasts in half (as if butterflying). Arrange in a single layer on a cutting board and cover with a piece of plastic wrap. Use a meat clever (or rolling pin) to pound to 1/4 inch all the way around. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper.

Drizzle a little olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat, just enough oil to cover the pan. Add chicken pieces, touching is okay, but not overlapping (may require a second batch depending on the size of your skillet and chicken breasts). Cook 3 to 3/12 minutes per side, or until cooked through. Transfer to a serving plate.

Pour capers with brine into the pan, stirring to get up any little chunks of chicken that stuck to the pan. Add the butter and squeeze in the lemon wedge. Stir constantly, until butter is melted and starts to brown. Remove from heat and spoon sauce with capers over chicken. Serve.