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**RECIPE, SERVES 2**
1 large chicken breast
1 large shallot
3-4 garlic cloves
1 lb (453g) bunch asparagus
1 lemon
fresh parsley
capers
flour
olive oil
butter
salt
pepper
chili flakes (very optional)
Peel and roughly chop the shallot and garlic. Trim the woody ends of the asparagus and cut each spear into thin, noodle-like slices. Cut the lemon in half.
Slice the chicken breast so that you get two pieces of half their original thickness. Pound them out so that the head end is about the same thickness as the tail end.
Get all of your other ingredients handy, since you'll need them fast. Get a wide pan heating on medium and coat the bottom with olive oil.
Season the chicken with salt and pepper and toss to coat in a handful of flour. Lay the pieces in the oil and cook until golden on both sides and finished on the inside (I pulled mine at 160ºF/71ºC, and it took me 6 minutes to get there). Be conservative with the heat and don't let anything at the bottom of the pan burn. Pull the chicken out.
Dump in the garlic, shallot and asparagus. Stir constantly and cook for a minute until the garlic and/or fond seem on the verge of burning. Deglaze with water, and turn the heat to high. Stir constantly as you soften the asparagus, and add more water as needed to keep the pan from drying out and burning.
As you cook, add in some drained capers, a pinch of chili flakes, and lemon juice (I used the whole lemon but you might want to start with half). When the asparagus seems just limp and noodly, turn off the heat and wait for the bubbling to almost stop.
Stir in enough butter (and maybe some additional water) to get a sauce as creamy and glossy as you'd like, keeping in mind that you need enough sauce to coat the asparagus and the chicken. Taste for seasoning - you might not need any additional salt, especially if you used salted butter.
Lift the asparagus out of the pan distribute it on your plates, leaving most of the sauce behind in the pan. Tear in some parsley leaves, stir and let them wilt in the heat that's left in the pan/sauce. Place the chicken on the plate and top everything with the sauce.