Oven Fried Chicken

We're trying to eat healthy. High cholesterol and a few extra pounds plague both of us, and so when we find a way to have crispy crunchy chicken without deep frying it (or buying it deep fried), it makes us both happy.

This recipe intrigued us, so we set about to make it our own.

Ingredients: * = local, & = organic

• 2 1/2 pounds chicken breasts &
• 1/2 cup buttermilk &
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 2 cloves garlic *&
• 1 teaspoon hot sauce
• 1/2 cup Emmer flour *&
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
• 1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• Fresh ground pepper
• Olive oil &

Unfortunately, we didn't do very well using local ingredients for this recipe. Once our spices grow up a bit, we'll be able to use them instead of the bottled stuff.

Directions

1. Mix the buttermilk, mustard, garlic, and hot sauce in a shallow dish until thoroughly blended.
2. Place the chicken in the dish and turn to coat well.
3. Cover and marinate for at least 30 minutes or for up to 8 hours.
4. Preheat oven to 425.
5. Line a cookie sheet with foil. Set a wire rack on the cookie sheet and brush it with olive oil.
6. Combine the flour, sesame seeds, paprika, thyme, baking powder, salt and pepper in a ziplock bag.
7. Shake off the excess marinade from the chicken and place in the bag.
8. Shake the bag to coat.
9. Lay the chicken on the rack and brush with olive oil.
10. Bake for approximately 40 minutes.

Notes

The original recipe called for cooking spray. You're supposed to spray the chicken breasts with the cooking spray before baking. However, I've never really liked those cooking sprays. I'd rather use some olive oil without all the propellant. This worked just fine.

We didn't have a wire rack that we could put on a cookie sheet, so we used a glass baking dish. In order to crisp the chicken, place the glass dish in the oven with about a tablespoon of olive oil and let it come up to temperature. Then carefully slide it out and add the chicken breast.

This was quite good. I think it could have used a bit more salt, but then again, I like salt. The coating was crunchy and the chicken was still fairly moist. We will definitely make this again.