Super Long Baked Chicken

I tried this recipe by Laurie Colwin for baked chicken  the other day.  I found it in Molly O’Neill’s New York Cookbook. It was really easy to prepare and quite tasty.  I used a combination of chicken thighs and breasts.  The 2 1/2 hour cooking time made the thighs divine and the coating/ crust supremely yummy, but the breasts were really, really dry. So big warning, DO NOT USE CHICKEN BREASTS!

Super Long Baked Chicken

Ingredients:

• 2 (2-1/2 – 3 pound) broiling chickens, rinsed, dried and quartered
• 1 cup dijon mustard
• 2 T. fresh or 1 T. dried thyme
• 1/2 t. pepper
• 1/8 t. cinnamon, ground
• 3 cups fresh bread crumbs (or panko) lightly salted and peppered
• 4 T. butter
• 1 T. sweet paprika
• 1 large clove garlic, minced

Cooking Directions:

1. In a bowl, combine the mustard, garlic, thyme, pepper and cinnamon.
2. Coat the chicken pieces with the mustard mixture and then roll to cover in the bread crumbs.
3. Arrange in 1 or 2 shallow baking pans.
4. Dot each piece with some butter and sprinkle with the paprika.
5. Bake at 325 degrees for 2 1/2 hours.
6. Serves 4 – 6.