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Pecan-Crusted Oven-Fried Chicken

Source of Recipe


From "A Love Affair with Southern Cooking" by Jean Anderson



List of Ingredients



• One 3½- to 4-pound broiler-fryer, cut up for frying
  
• 1 cup butter
  
• 1 large clove garlic, thinly slivered
  
• 1½ cups finely ground pecans
  
• 1 cup fine dry bread crumbs (unflavored)
  
• ¾ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
  
• 1 tsp crumbled dried leaf thyme leaves
  
• ¾ tsp salt
  
• ½ tsp black pepper
  






Instructions



1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Wash the chicken parts in cool water, pat dry on paper toweling, and set aside.
   
   
2. Place the butter and slivered garlic in a small, heavy saucepan and set over low heat until the butter melts. (Tip: I often melt the butter in a 2-quart ovenproof glass measure in the microwave oven; 6 to 8 minutes on defrost should do it. Then I add the garlic.)
   
   
3. Combine the ground pecans, bread crumbs, grated Parmesan, thyme, salt and pepper in a shallow roasting pan (not too large). Dip each piece of chicken into the melted garlic butter, then coat thickly with the pecan mixture and arrange in large shallow roasting pan so that the pieces do not touch one another. Drizzle any remaining garlic butter over the chicken. Slide, uncovered, onto the middle oven rack and oven-fry for 1 to 1¼ hours, or until richly browned and no traces of pink remain in the chicken. As the chicken cooks, baste occasionally with the pan drippings. Serve hot or at room temperature, accompanied by a tossed salad of crisp greens.
   
   Makes 6 servings.
   
   






Final Comments


The fastest way to grind the pecans is in a food processor, but to keep them from reducing to paste, alternately churn and pulse until the nuts are about the texture of kosher salt.