Recipe: Crispy Chicken with 3 Dipping Sauces - Blue Cheese Sauce, Honey Mustard Sauce, Apricot Balsamic Sauce

Crispy Chicken with 3 Dipping Sauces
rec.food.recipes/Little Family/2000
Servings: 16 pieces of chicken

Note: I used a cut up whole chicken and increased the time by 5 to 10 minutes, and it worked just great.

Olive-oil nonstick cooking spray
1 3/4 cups walnuts
1 cup plain dried bread crumbs
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper (cayenne)
2 large eggs, beaten
8 medium chicken-breast halves (about 3 1/2 pounds), skin removed
8 medium chicken drumsticks (about 1 3/4 pounds), skin removed
Recipes below for:
Blue Cheese Sauce
Honey Mustard Sauce
Apricot Balsamic Sauce

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Spray two 15 1/2 by 10 1/2-inch jelly-roll pans with olive-oil cooking spray.

In food processor with knife blade attached, blend walnuts with 1/4 cup bread crumbs until walnuts are finely ground. Place nut mixture, salt, ground red pepper, and remaining bread crumbs in medium bowl; mix well.

In pie plate, with fork, beat eggs. Cut each chicken-breast half crosswise into 2 pieces. One at a time, dip chicken-breast pieces and drumsticks in beaten egg, then into walnut mixture to coat; place in jelly-roll pans. Spray chicken pieces with olive-oil cooking spray.

Bake chicken, on 2 oven racks, 30 to 35 minutes, rotating pans between upper and lower racks halfway through cooking, until chicken is golden brown and juices run clear when chicken is pierced with a knife.

While chicken is cooking, prepare sauces (below). Cover and refrigerate sauces if not serving right away.

Serve chicken hot with dipping sauces. Or, cool chicken slightly; cover and refrigerate to serve cold later with sauces.

Each serving without sauces: About 230 calories, 23 g protein, 7 g carbohydrate,
12 g total fat (2 g saturated), 84 mg cholesterol, 320 mg sodium.

BLUE-CHEESE SAUCE

4 ounces blue cheese crumbled (1 cup)
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup plain low-fat yogurt
1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
sea salt

In medium bowl, stir together blue cheese, crumbles, mayonnaise, yogurt, hot pepper sauce, and pepper. Taste to check if it needs sea salt, mine did. Makes about 1 1/2 cups.

Each tablespoon: About 55 calories, 1 g protein, 0 g carbohydrate, 5 g total fat (2 g saturated), 6 mg cholesterol, 95 mg sodium.

HONEY-MUSTARD SAUCE:

2/3 cup Dijon mustard
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup honey
3/4 teaspoon Worcestershire

In medium bowl, stir together 2/3 cup Dijon mustard, 1/4 cup sour cream, 1/4 cup honey, and 3/4 teaspoon Worcestershire. Taste and adjust amounts of ingredients, mine needed more honey because of the type of honey. Makes about 1 1/4 cups.

Each tablespoon: About 30 calories, 1 g protein, 4 g carbohydrate, 1 g total fat (0 g saturated), 1 mg cholesterol, 205 mg sodium.

APRICOT-BALSAMIC SAUCE:

12-ounce jar apricot preserves (1 cup)
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon grated orange peel

In medium bowl, stir together apricot preserves, balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, and 1/4 teaspoon grated orange peel. Makes about 1 1/4 cups.

Each tablespoon: About 50 calories, 0 g protein, 12 g carbohydrate, 0 g total fat (0 g saturated), 0 mg cholesterol, 55 mg sodium.