Oven Fried Chicken

I'll just put it out there: I really wanted fried chicken today. But after a dinner party last night celebrating the Swiss "Three Kings Day," which involved pouring spatulas filled with bubbling, melted, amazing cheese over your plate of food (post coming soon), I thought my heart might not survive actual fried chicken. And I'd like to be around for another day or two before biting the cardiac bullet.

Oven-Fried Chicken! All the flavor without the fat

I figured as a substitute, I could make oven fried chicken and enjoy it (almost) as much. So I searched for oven fried chicken recipes and once I came across one that required an entire cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese, I was in. The rest of the recipe was a mish-mash of ingredients from about four other recipes, so I consider it my personal "best of" edition. And let me tell you, it ROCKED. We loved it. So try it, you'll like it! I made Brussels Sprouts with Crispy Prosciutto as a side dish, the recipe for which I'll post in a bit.

Here's what you need to make the Oven Fried Chicken:

• 2 cups cornflakes
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
• 1/4 cup almonds
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 tablespoons thyme
• Salt and freshly grated pepper, to taste
• 4 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil, separated into 2 teaspoons each
• 6 chicken breasts, cut in half lengthwise (I buy chicken cutlets; they are thinner than breasts)
• 1/4 cup Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons water

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Place a cooling rack over pan and spray rack with nonstick cooking spray. I didn't use a cooling rack and it came out really crisy. I can only imagine the cooling rack would make it even better!

In the bowl of a food processor (I used a the mini-sized food processor), combine the cornflakes, almonds, sesame seeds, Parmesan cheese, thyme, two teaspoons olive oil, and salt and pepper, to taste. Pulse until all ingredients have been chopped and resemble the consistency of dried bread crumbs. Transfer to shallow dish or bowl.

In a separate shallow dish, combine mustard, water and remaining olive oil. Coat each chicken cutlet with the mustard mixture; dredge each in bread crumb mixture.

Place on prepared rack in pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until chicken is golden brown. Serve immediately.