Baked Chicken

My mother had several recipes in her wheelhouse that she delivered with ease and proved most delicious.  One of them was her baked chicken, which was basically chicken pieces in an egg wash, covered in bread crumbs and then baked in the oven until done.  The best part of that meal was getting the crunchy pieces out of the baking pan after dinner.  There may have been some scrums between my siblings and I to get the last piece.

I spotted this recipe the other day and it made me think of her and illustrated the relative ease with which this could be accomplished for LBA and SoBA.

Oven-Fried Panko Chicken
Gourmet | October 2009
Yield: Makes 4 to 6 servings
Active Time: 20 min
Total Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• 2 cups panko (Japanese bread crumbs) 
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne 
• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened 
• 1 chicken (about 3 1/2 pounds), rinsed, patted dry, and cut into 10 serving pieces (breasts cut crosswise in half)

Preparation
Preheat oven to 450°F with rack in middle.

Stir together panko, cayenne, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a pie plate.

Stir together butter, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a small bowl, then brush all over chicken. Add chicken, 2 pieces at a time, to crumb mixture and coat evenly on both sides, pressing chicken into crumbs to help them adhere, then transfer, skin side up, to a shallow baking pan.

Bake chicken until well browned and cooked through, 30 to 40 minutes. Let stand, uncovered, 5 to 10 minutes to crisp.