This recipe produced the tastiest chicken with the least of amount of time and ingredients I ever came across. There is a deep satisfying communion of simple ingredients. Trust me on this one!

INGREDIENTS:  Serves 6-8  Easily adjusted for more or less diners

If you prefer dark meat, trim boneless, skinless thighs and arrange on an oiled baking pan so they are roughly the same thickness. You can slice/pound the meat to make more consistent in thickness. The mayo topping will hide much of your knife work.

Also consider chicken tenders as shown

• chicken breast halves – 6
• sea salt and pepper
• Italian herb blend – 2 tsp
•  mayonnaise – 3/4 cup
•  Parmesan cheese – 6 TBS
•  *Panko bread crumbs – 6 tsp

*Panko are Japanese breadcrumbs that are extra crispy. Also consider seasoned, toasted breadcrumbs.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees
2. Season chicken generously with salt
3. Combine mayo, herb blend, and cheese
4. Lay chicken on lightly oiled foil. Spread mayo mixture on just the top of the breasts
5. Sprinkle evenly with bread crumbs
6. Bake for 6-8 minutes, until chicken reaches 150º F
7. Turn on the broiler and brown for a couple minutes until chicken reaches 165º [Stay right there and watch; they will burn easily]

Vegetarian Spin: Use marinated tofu cutlets or a cauliflower cut into individual “steaks”

I gifted a pan for the holidays. Everything was ready to pop into the oven and off it went in an open one-horse sleigh.