BAKED CHICKEN BAJAN STYLE

Baked Chicken Bajan Style image

"It is difficult to travel abroad without picking up an idea or two about cooking," Pierre Franey opened his 1982 column that featured this recipe. Spicy from hot red-pepper flakes and crisp from a mix of oil and seasoned flour, this chicken dish is inspired by a chef cooking at a Barbados restaurant. One guest, he wrote, "mistakenly assumed that the chicken had been deep-fried Southern style." Instead, it was baked, as it is here, yielding a crisp skin without nearly as much oil.

Provided by Pierre Franey

Time 1h15m

Yield 4 servings

Number Of Ingredients 8

Ingredients

1 chicken, 3 pounds, cut into serving pieces
Salt to taste, if desired
Freshly ground pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon oregano
2 tablespoons peanut, vegetable or corn oil
3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes

Steps:

Heat the oven to 450 degrees. To prepare this dish properly, partly bone chicken, leaving legs and thighs attached. Bone thighs first by place them skin side down on a flat surface. Using small paring or boning knife, scrape meat away from each bone. Sever bone to separate it from leg bone. To bone legs, scrape around the bone almost but not down to the end. Using sharp, heavy knife, cut off major part of bone, leaving about one inch at end. Chop off very bottom of each leg bone.
Leave breasts and main wing bones attached. Cut off and discard tip of each wing. Cut off and set aside second wing joints. Bone breasts but leave skin intact. Do not remove main wing bone. Use back bone for soup or discard.
Sprinkle chicken with salt, pepper and half of oregano.
Put oil in baking dish large enough to hold chicken in one layer when it is added. Add chicken and rub it in oil.
Blend flour with remaining oregano, paprika, hot red pepper flakes, salt and pepper.
Dredge each piece of chicken on all sides in flour mixture. Shake off excess.
Return chicken pieces skin side up to baking dish.
Place chicken in oven and bake 40 minutes without turning.

Nutrition Facts : @context http, Calories 648, UnsaturatedFat 28 grams, Carbohydrate 19 grams, Fat 42 grams, Fiber 1 gram, Protein 46 grams, SaturatedFat 11 grams, Sodium 865 milligrams, Sugar 0 grams, TransFat 0 grams