The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Come and Get It - Cookbook Review + Recipe

Goodreads:  The Pioneer Woman Cooks Come and Get It: Simple, Scrumptious Recipes for Crazy Busy Lives by Ree Drummond

The Concept:  Fast, Simple, Family Friendly Recipes.

My Thoughts:  I'm a huge Pioneer Woman fan.  I own all her cookbooks and they are battered and very well used and many of her recipes are counted among the short list of family favorites.  This one, however, has been sitting gathering dust since I got it.  So I decided it was time to dust it off and give it a try. I didn't find this one as versatile as her previous books.  There's a lot of space dedicated to breakfast, salads served in different ways, appetizers, sides,  sheetpan suppers, and meatless marvels.  A lot of the recipes that sound good but not nearly as many that are just begging to be tried as I expect to find in her cookbooks.  Normally I flip through her cookbooks and am just dying to try tons of recipe.  This time - not so much.  There were plenty that looked like they might be tasty but not nearly as many that I really wanted to make.  But I picked two recipes and gave them a try.  The first was Slow Cooker Mexican Chicken Soup and the second was Chicken Piccata.  I thought I'd share the Chicken Picatta reicpe:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
kosher salt and black pepper
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup dry white wine or chicken broth
3/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth
juice of 2 lemons
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon chopped parsley, plus more for serving
1 lb angel hair pasta,cooked according to package directions

If the chicken breasts are overly thick, pound until slightly flattened.  Season with salt and pepper on both sides, then dredge time in the flour.

Shake off the excess and set them aside.

In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the butter and 2 tablespoons of the oil over medium-high heat.  Fry two of the chicken breasts at a time until golden brown on both sides and cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes per side.

Repeat with the remaining butter, oil, and chicken breasts and remove to a plate.  Set aside.

Pour in the wine, chicken broth, and lemon juice and whisk the sauce, scraping the bottom of the pan to loosen all the flavorful bits.  Let the sauce cook and bubble and thicken until reduced by about half.  Sprinkle in a little salt and pepper as it's cooking.

Turn the heat to low, pour in the cream and whisk the sauce, letting it cook for a couple of minutes to thicken.

Stir in the parsley, then taste and adjust the seasonings.  Expect the sauce to have a real lemony tang to it.  Counter it with a little more broth and cream if it's too strong.

Serve the chicken next to a pile of noodles and spoon the creamy sauce over the whole thing.

My Thoughts:  I followed the recipe exactly (with the exception of the pasta - I used rotini instead of angel hair because that's what I had on hand) and was pretty pleased with the result.  The lemon tang was definitely strong but I enjoyed it and it made for a tasty dinner that went over well.  The soup was a whole other story.  It was easy to throw together but there just wasn't enough to it.  It needed more chicken or more something other than just tomato and spice.  So a 50/50 result.  I'm going to keep experimenting with this book but I doubt it will become my favorite any time soon.