Not Quite Chicken Piccatta

I was raised Seventh-Day Adventist and therefore, vegetarian. In high school I made a few dalliances into the meat stall of the cuisine arena, but ultimately decided that I don't really enjoy eating meat, so I don't.

Another result of being raised SDA is that instead of meat we ate vege-meat. Some of my favorites were stripples, big franks and fri-chik. The main brands when I was growing up were Loma Linda and Worthington. Interestingly, Worthington was purchased by Morningstar Farms, then purchased by Kellogg, who also now owns Boca. Seems the vege-meat world is smaller and smaller all the time.

I've enjoyed the sauce on a few chicken piccatta recipies and decided tonight to make use of what we have in the cabinet: Cous-cous, Fri-Chik, and a few mushrooms in the fridge.

Here's what I came up with.


Fri-Chik Piccatta

1 cups water
1 tsp butter equivalent (I use Smart Balance)
Sprinkle of salt
Bring to a boil
Add 1 cup cous-cous, stir, remove from heat
Let sit 4-5 min, fluff with a fork


In a medium sauté pan, melt 1 tsp butter equivalent
Add 8 oz sliced white mushrooms
Sauté 2 to 3 minutes
Add 4-6 fri chik, sliced
Once mushrooms are soft and fri-chik is heated through, remove fri-chik pieces from pan and set aside.


For Sauce:

1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 small sprig rosemary, finely chopped
8-10 leaves basil, chiffonade
½ tsp chopped fresh oregano, finely chopped
1 ½ cups fri-chik juice
½ cup water
3 tbs lemon juice
2 tbs cornstarch dissolved in ¼ cup water
Salt & Pepper to taste

In mushroom pan add garlic & herbs, fri-chik juice, water & 2 tbs lemon juice, set to med-hi and reduce by 1/3. Add remainder of lemon juice, add cornstarch/water, salt & pepper to taste.

Plate ½ cup cous cous, add 2-3 slices of fri-chik, spoon sauce over.