We started our evening off at Banana's workplace, where the students/camp participants put on a display of traditional Japanese Taiko drumming and dancing. We then went to a place called ArtStart where they recycle basically anything imaginable for people to purchase (cheap) to make arts and crafts from. We then went to Buca di Beppo restaurant (the one near the Mall of America) where we got the 1893 salad, the Chicken with Lemon, and a side of spaghetti and maranara. Great food. The Chicken with Lemon is my favorite dish I have ever eaten. The Chicken breasts are moist beyond belief. The lemon butter sauce with capers is heavenly. I have included the recipe below at the end of the post for anyone interested. It's simple, and the taste is out of this world. The pasta was perfectly al dente.
Following Buca's we made our way to the Galleria and spent the rest of the evening in Epitome looking at wedding invitations. Some were very nice (I prefer simple, clean, elegant), and some were absurd (costing $25 PER invitation in some cases). We are planning on making our own invitations most likely, but were getting ideas, plus perhaps we'll buy instead of make. We also bought some Pentel pens, with Copper/Bronze colored metallic ink. Our invitations will have copper undoubtedly, as it's Banana's "color". I really think wedding supplies are one of the biggest scams going. But I guess it's a once in a lifetime thing for us, so if it makes her happy, it makes me happy. We're a bit behind in this area, as our wedding is December 30th, 2005.
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Buca di Beppo
Chicken with Lemon
Ingredients:
2 six-ounce boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt
1 cup of flour
1/4 cup of olive oil
1/4 cup of white wine
4 large lemons
1/2 stick of unsalted butter softened
Small handful of drained capers
Preparation:
Cut three lemons in half and use for fresh lemon juice. Pour the juice
through a fine strainer.
Cut the last lemon into wedges for garnish.
Begin to heat the olive oil in a 12 inch sauté pan on med-high.
While oil is getting hot, lightly season both sides of the chicken breast
with salt.
Lightly dust the chicken breast in the flour. Shake off excess flour.
Place chicken in the sauté pan skin side down.
When the chicken is golden brown, turn over and brown the other side as
well. It is important to brown both sides to insure the chicken is
completely cooked through.
When both sides are nice and brown, add white wine and lemon juice.
Continue to cook for approximately two to three minutes. The liquid should
reduce approximately half.
Once the liquid is reduced, remove the chicken breasts from the pan and turn
off heat.
Check to make sure the chicken breasts are cooked by turning each piece of
chicken over and cutting it halfway through with a knife. There should be
no visible pink. If the chicken is not completely cooked through, place in
a 400 degree oven for five minutes to complete cooking.
Finish the sauce by placing the softened butter in the pan. Using rubber
spatula, work the butter into the sauce as it melts.
Pour sauce directly on top of chicken breasts. Garnish with capers and
lemon wedges.
Chef: Vittorio Renda, Buca di Beppo
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1 comment:
I don't actually have any photos of the invites, but might get one down the road. There is one that has been disassembled and put into our guest book, but we don't have that at the moment.
Big Chris
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