Lemon

Montalcino, Italy, is the city I married in. I will make this dish for John every September 24, for our wedding anniversary. The way to anyone’s heart, forever and ever, is through their stomach! This is not your average chicken dinner.

Wow! Is this one a looker!

This is my latest version of what has become one of my classic 30-Minute-Meals, Beefy Brutus Salad, a Caesar-style salad with Italian thin-cut steak! Why should chicken have all the fun?

This is one of my fancy fake-out meals. It looks like it came out of an Asian influenced bistro, but the difference between your Express Lane receipt and your dinner check, not to mention the prep time, is substantial.

When you’re watching the big game it’s important to have some smashmouth, tough-guy food like this.

Wild Alaskan canned salmon is a great staple to keep on hand—it’s packed with good nutrition and calcium. This is my favorite way to use it, but also try it scrambled up with eggs and sweet peas, or tossed with some cream, pasta, and fresh dill or tarragon. It’s so versatile!

So easy! Too delish! I make Chicken Francese all the time, but this recipe for Sole Francese is actually based on a fish sandwich served at The Algonquin on Lake George, New York. I have been eating this fish there, dockside in the summer sun, for more decades than I care to acknowledge. (See you there next year!)

This meal is a combo of two favorite preparations: francese and piccata. Francese are egg-battered cutlets or fillets, and piccata are simply flour-dredged or plain cutlets or fillets sautéed with lemon and wine. I was never good at making decisions, especially regarding dinner, so I made up this two-for-one dinner. Serve with wilted fresh spinach or green salad.

Serve with a green salad.

Feel free to make this dish in all four seasons. I just call it “Spring Chicken” because it tastes light and crisp, like spring air, and because “Spring Chicken” sounds more appetizing than “Leeky Chicken,” which was what I called an earlier version of this recipe.