WHIP IT UP WEDNESDAY.... Gardein Vegan Chick'n Piccata

Wednesday.  Damn smack middle of the week.  Not quite as energized as Monday, and not yet filled with the excitement of the impending weekend.  Who the heck wants to cook a gourmet meal on Wednesdays?  Not even me, and I LOVE to cook!  But that doesn't mean we have to settle.

Here is a great meal I whipped up in about twenty minutes and you can too!  It is a slight variation of the one posted on the Gardein recipe (exactly the same actually, except I doubled the recipe, and added shiitake mushrooms as a side dish with the remainder of the sauce).

MY HUSBAND AND SON LOVED LOVED LOVED THIS DISH!  Unfortunately, my daughter is allergic to peas, and cannot eat this. :-(

VEGAN CHICK'N PICCATA

INGREDIENTS:

• flour for coating (optional)
• 1 TBSP vegetable oil
• 4 pieces (1 bag) Gardein Chick'n Scallopini (My local Target has a HUGE selection of Gardein products!)
• 1 cup white wine
• 1 cup vegetable stock (I use Trader Joe's Organic Hearty Vegetable Broth)
• 4 TBSP capers
• 2 TBSP vegan butter (I use Earth Balance)
• 2 TBPS lemon juice
• OPTIONAL:  I added 1 cup of shiitake mushrooms to the meal which was amazing!  I soaked dry Shiitake mushrooms for a few minutes, and then threw them in the remaining sauce at the end.  (I love the mushrooms distributed by Walong Marketing, Inc.  I find them at my local Chinese market.  They are amazing!  I think they would also do great as a mock clam.  Will work on that soon!)

Prepare medium high heat nonstick pan with 1 TBSP of vegetable oil.

Saute gardein chick'n scallopini for 2-3 minutes per side, until golden brown. Set aside.

Add white wine, stock, and capers to pan. Reduce by half. Turn off heat, whisk in butter, and add lemon juice. 

Return scallopini to pan and coat with sauce.

Place and serving plate, topped with sauce.  

**You can keep a small amount of sauce in the frying pan, and see OPTIONAL note below for addition of shiitake mushrooms.  AMAZING!!!

*OPTIONAL:

Soak 1 cup dry shiitake mushrooms for 5 minutes.  Drain.  Saute quickly over medium heat in remaining sauce.  Serve as a side dish to the Chick'n Piccata.

***I served spinach as a side dish, with Trader Joe's quick cook (Ready in 15 minutes) Organic Brown Basmati Rice. *Note if you choose to use this rice, I would recommend boiling the water FIRST, before you add the rice, otherwise the cook time is much longer than stated in the directions.  (I have emailed Trader Joe's about this and awaiting a reply.)