Creamy Grilled Chicken Piccata

I love chicken piccata, so I decided to try this recipe out. Jeremy really liked it, but I thought it was a little much. I think I'd prefer to have the pasta (with sauce) and a piece of chicken with very little seasoning OR the marinated / seasoned chicken with a plain pasta (even angel hair pasta). It may just be that I'm overly sensitive to strong flavors, so this dish is just too much for me. But, it does offer us some good options that we can change up to more of our liking.

Creamy Grilled Chicken Piccata
Adapted from PlainChicken.com

* requires several hours to marinate before cooking

Ingredients:

© 2012 Jamie V..

Chicken
Juice of 1 lemon (3Tbsp)
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp basil or oregano
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (we had thick chicken breasts, and they were difficult to grill without getting too done on the outside - next time, I think we're going to butterfly the chicken breasts before we cook them)

Pasta
2 cups dried penne pasta
2 Tbsp butter
Juice of 2 lemons (6 Tbsp)
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1/2 cup half and half (or heavy cream)
2 tsp dried basil
2 Tbps capers (we didn't have any capers)
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

Chicken

1. Combine first 6 ingredients and mix well.
2. Place chicken in a plastic container and pour marinade over chicken.
3. Marinate overnight in the refrigerator.
4. When ready, grill until done. (we don't have an outdoor grill, so we just used our George Foreman - I brushed a little olive oil over the grill plates just before placing the chicken on)
5. Allow chicken to rest for a few minutes and then slice into strips to serve over pasta.

Pasta

1. (while chicken is grilling) Cook pasta according to directions (10-12 minutes).
2. Reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water and drain.
3. In same sauce pan, melt butter over medium heat.
4. Whisk in garlic and lemon juice.
5. Pour in half and half (or heavy cream) and whisk until hot.
6. Add some salt and pepper to taste. Add the parmesan cheese, basil and capers, and heat until cheese is melted. Check the consistency of the sauce and add some of the reserved pasta water to loosen the sauce if necessary.
7. Toss in pasta.

Serve in pasta bowls with grilled chicken on top. Sprinkle with more parmesan if desired.