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. I thought I'd give it a try and report back from the trenches.

Report: I wasn't brave enough to follow the recipe blindly through the night. I decided to hedge the odds by improvising the recipe, only putting the breading on one side of the chicken and using a piece of foil to protect the grill when I grilled the breaded side. I've just cleaned out my grill and don't like the idea of breading falling through the grates.

I also eliminated the shallot and substituted lemon juice for the Batali recipe for drizzling oil (Olio Piccante). Further, I substituted barley and squash for the snap peas the original recipe used.

I did, however, grill one of the thighs, breaded side directly on the grill grate, to see how much, if any, of the breading would fall off. Because the breading had heated while the flesh side was grilling, about 75% of the breading adhered to the flesh. I'm glad my remaining 3 thighs were placed on foil, however. They grilled to a golden finish and I was able to enjoy each juicy, savory morsel of crust. Well worth the fuss, I must say.

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.