parmesan chicken from an ad

After a work Saturday, I love to chill on Sunday afternoon and cook up a new recipe.  I tried two new ones this weekend, and this chicken one is so easy and tasty.

And when I say easy, I mean the recipe was on an advertisement in my Food Network magazine.  You know, those ad recipes are always super simple, usually very boring, and only sometimes worth trying.

But this one is!  I took some creative liberties, so forgive the estimations.  Just feel it as you go.

Parmesan Crusted Chicken

Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Mayo
Parmesan cheese, grated
Spices of choice
Bread crumbs of choice

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
 
2. I butterflied those chicken breasts out of the package (they can get too thick, don't you think?), and placed each piece on a foil-lined cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray.
 
3. In a small bowl, mix up some mayo (about 1 Tbsp. per piece of chicken), the Parm cheese, and your spices.  As for amounts, go with your taste buds, but I used about a 1:4 ratio of Parmesan to mayo, and then a couple of shakes of garlic powder and one dash of cayenne pepper.
 
4. Spoon about a tablespoon of the mayo mixture on each piece of chicken and spread it around to cover the surface area.
 
5. Sprinkle the bread crumbs onto each piece of chicken, to form a little pseudo-crust.  I used panko crumbs, but you can use plain or Italian flavored traditional ones, too.
 
6. Bake those little guys up for about 20 minutes, or until the chicken's done.  The crumbs'll be golden, and the cheese and mayo will be bubbly hot.

I think the deliciousness of this is all in the spices, so choose wisely.

And while my chicken was baking, I roasted some broccoli florets with some EVOO and crushed red pepper.  De-lish.

Happy cooking, y'all!