Recipe: Grilled Chicken Thighs with an Anchovy Crust

This recipe was written by Peggy Lampman and originally posted on AnnArbor.com on July 23, 2010.

I've been curious to try a Mario Batali recipe that calls for grilling chicken with a bread crumb coating. The ingredients look delicious but it seems to me the bread crumbs would make a mess fallling through the grill grates. This recipe is adapted from a chicken thigh recipe in Mario Batali's Italian Grill Cookbook.

Yield: 4 large chicken thighs

Active Time: 15 minutes
Refrigeration and grill time: 45 minutes
Cost: apx. $7.00

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1-2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1-2 teaspoons anchovy paste
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley
• 1/2 cup panko (Japanese bread flakes) or bread crumbs
• 4 meaty chicken thighs, skinned removed (bone-in or boneless)
• 1 lemon, quartered

Directions

1. Combine oil, 1 teaspoon garlic, 1 teaspoon anchovy paste, parsley and panko or bread crumbs. Combine well. Add additional anchovy paste and garlic to taste, remembering the flavors will lose some of their intensity when they are grilled.
2. Rinse and pat chicken thighs dry. Put the chicken thighs on a platter, large enough to accommodate them, and pat seasoned crumb mixture over the top of the thighs. Let sit, refrigerated, 15 minutes.
3. Prepare a gas or charcoal grill for indirect heat. Place the chicken thighs, flesh side down, on the cooler part of the grill. Cover the grill and cook chicken 15-25 minutes or until golden brown on flesh side.
4. Place a piece of oiled foil, large enough to accomodate chicken, onto grill. With tongs or a spatula, carefully turn chicken over onto foil, and continue cooking thighs until cooked throughout. This will take an additional 1-20 minutes, depending on the thickness of your thighs and if the bone is attached. (Boneless thighs cook faster than bone-in thighs.) Serve with lemon wedges.