As my main dish to go with my farro salad, I decided to bake some chicken. When I was a child—in the ‘60s—my mother would bake chicken drenched in Wishbone Italian dressing—son-in-law pointed out that her remembered that this recipe was actually on the bottle. Since I had already made more dressing that I needed for my salad I decided to replicate this fondly remembered dish.
Karl’s Baked Italian Chicken
Karl’s Baked Italian Chicken
Ingredients
1 large roasting chicken (4-5 lbs.)
½ cup Karl’s Italian Dressing
Directions
1. At least six hours before cooking—preferably overnight— cut the chicken into 8-10 portions.
Tip: I cut out the backbone and the breast bone. Cut the bird in half and then separate the legs from the breasts. I also remove any large lumps of fat and trim off the rib cage—these poky little bones have very little meat on them and they tend to puncture the marinating bag. Separate the leg and thigh. Divide the half breast into 2-3 portions—depending on their size. The neck, backbone and any scraps are frozen for making chicken stock another day.
2. Place the chicken pieces in a seal-able gallon plastic bag and add the Italian dressing.
3. Place the bag of chicken in the refrigerator and flip it over about every two hours.
Tip: Turning the bag over allows the dressing to reach all parts of the chicken. Six hours is a minimum marinating time, but overnight is better.
4. Lay the chicken pieces into a deep baking pan in a single layer and pour the remaining dressing over them.
5. Put the chicken in a preheated 350° F oven and bake for about 1¼ hours.
Tip: Insert a constant read thermometer into the thickest part of one of the thighs and set the alarm to an internal temperature of 165º F.
6. Transfer the chicken to a serving platter.
7. Tent the chicken with aluminum foil to keep it warm and let them rest for 10 minutes.
8. Serve warm with Karl’s farro salad.
karllueck
Miriam
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