Parmesan Mustard Chicken

Yesterday I said today is "cooking day."  That might've been a bit of an overstatement.  My goal is to cook an entree on Sundays - one that will last throughout the week.  I also cook on Mondays because I don't have regularly scheduled events or meetings on Monday evenings.  Then, if I'm running short of entrees later in the week, I can cook up one more.  That way, I have a variety during the week with, hopefully, some carry over to the following week.

Before cooking the entree today, I had to cut  up the chicken leg quarters I bought earlier in the week.  Did I mention - I paid $.79/pound for those!  The downside is I had to cut them up.  Today I just cut the drumstick off the thigh.  The drumsticks are good to go and I froze them, two in a bag.  Yes, I remembered to wrap each in cling wrap so they don't freeze together!  

The thighs need a touch more work to make them "pretty."  I've never really cut up a chicken before.  It looks like I need to remove the spine/back bone from the thigh.  For the time being, I've frozen the remaining thighs as is.  In the meantime, I'll do something I'm good at - research.  I will read up on how to cut up the leg quarters, make them pretty, and debone them.  Maybe I'll take pics of the process!

Here's a pic of the chicken I got for $7.90.  It's already separated.

Are you ready for the recipe?  I started with Linda's Parmesan Deviled Chicken from here.  Linda used Dana Carpenter's recipe from here.  This is what it looked like fresh out of the oven.  If you use thighs cut up and trimmed from the store, you probably won't have as much juice after cooking.

Fresh out of the oven

 And this is a few minutes later, after it's settled - just before I ate it!

Plated after sitting for a couple of minutes.

I changed up some of the ingredients - which is why I changed the name.  I've added cinnamon instead of cayenne.  Based upon Linda's suggestion, I also added a sprinkle of salt after cooking.  I eliminated the oil - it's not necessary if 

Plated after sitting for a couple of minutes

you keep the skin on.  You can use any kind of mustard.  

This chicken is very tasty!  The mustard adds nice kick but not spicy even though I used spicy mustard.  The parmesan cheese mellows the mustard.  I give this recipe 5 wing flaps!

Parmesan Mustard Chicken

1/4 cup spicy brown or Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons dry white wine
1 clove garlic, minced 

3/4 cup parmesan cheese, canned works
1 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
4 chicken thighs, bone-in and skin on*
Salt, to taste

In a shallow bowl, add garlic to mustard and white wine.  In another shallow bowl, mix the parmesan cheese, paprika and cinnamon. Coat the chicken with the mustard mixture then coat well with the parmesan cheese mixture on all sides. Place the chicken in a non-stick foil-lined 9x13" baking pan and sprinkle any remaining parmesan cheese mixture over each piece of chicken. Bake at 350º 75 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the coating is golden brown.

*The original recipe called for 8 thighs.  However, the mustard mixture I had only created enough to coat 4 of my chicken thighs (probably because mine, bone-in, were 14 ounces each!)

Nutritional Information for the entire recipe:

Carbs:  10.65g (4%)

Protein:  96.8g (33%)

Fat:  81.05g (62%)

Alcohol: 1%

Calories:  1180