Mike and I had quite a time this week, wrestling with chicken! Michael's first assignment involved de-boning a chicken. At first, I thought that we would de-bone it, leaving a giant blanket of meat sans bones, and that maybe we would stuff it and roll it, bake it then slice it and serve it. Well, no. Thankfully, my over-active imagination took that one way over the intended top. We actually had to take a whole chicken apart, piece by piece, then de-bone those individual pieces. We watched the instructional video by chicken part, hit pause, de-boned, then hit play and watched the next part. A little cumbersome, but we accomplished the task. 
Let the de-boning begin...
It only took about 20 minutes from start to finish. Final count: 7 pieces plus the wishbone.
Michael was quite overwhelmed with the process. He was grossed out to the point of anxiety and tears. I was proud of him for successfully completing the task. I threw away the winglets and froze the carcass for soup stock at a later, cooler time. I then prepared the whole legs and breasts for dinner. Slid some thin lemon slices under the skin and on top. Generous amount of olive oil, salt and pepper over each piece. The last of my fresh thyme. Baked at 450 for 20 minutes then 375 for 1 hr. They turned out perfectly juicy, with crispy flavorful skin and were devoured ravenously by the starving wolves that live in our house!
Isn't this a fantastic photo? Well, that's because it was taken by a professional photographer for Tyler Florence's blog. I forgot to take a picture of our finished chicken, but it really did look just like this!
Mike started uploading the photos. He wrote out his description. Then he happened to hit play on the video where we had paused it last. We discovered that the video went on to show how to de-bone the winglets and de-bone the whole legs. Oops...unfortunately, the winglets were in the dumpster in the alley at this point and the legs, well, there wasn't a trace left of them. Michael emailed the chef/instructor, asked for a time extension, and the next morning he walked to the grocery store and purchased a few more thighs for de-boning. So, now we have some de-boned thighs residing in our freezer for future use!
On a brighter note, Mike's other assignment was to prepare Chicken Piccata. We picked up some already de-boned chicken breasts at Sprouts then got to work.
First step was to turn chicken breasts into chicken escallops. Mike and I watched the video, then tried our hand at slicing each breast into thirds, holding the knife at a nearly horizontal angle. We used Mike's big chef's knife which is razor sharp and perfect for this task.
Mike dredged the escallops in seasoned flour then sauteed them in olive oil and butter in a skillet. This stove, by the way, belongs to our friends, Jeff and Pam. Mike actually prepared dinner at their home then served it to 8 people. Pretty ambitious!! Michael did a great job! Once the chicken was sauteed, the pan was deglazed with white wine and lemon juice. Added in a brunoise of shallots, a few tablespoons of capers, salt, pepper and parsley. Then some unsalted butter was whisked in and the whole sauce was reduced down til it was thick and delectable!
Michael served the chicken over some simple, al dente bow-tie pasta, seasoned with olive oil, salt and pepper. The chicken was perfectly crisp and juicy. This recipe was simple, came together quickly, smelled fantastic, and tasted wonderfully fresh and lemony. Michael thought it was a bit too lemony. Everyone else gave it rave reviews!