Buffalo Baked Chicken with Blue Cheese, Celery and Carrot Slaw

Ingredients

3/4 cup hot sauce, such as Frank’s Red Hot
6 tablespoons butter
4 pieces bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts, cut in half across
4 chicken drummers
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup blue cheese crumbles
Juice of 2 lemons
1/3 to 1/2 cup mayonnaise (or make it lighter with buttermilk)
6 to 8 ribs of celery from the heart with greens, thinly sliced on an angle
2 cups shredded carrots

6 scallions, white and green parts thinly sliced
1/2 head red cabbage, cored and shredded
3 cups salad croutons, ground into crumbs in a food processor
1/4 cup (a generous handful) flat-leaf parsley leaves, finely chopped

Yields: 4 servings

Preparation

Preheat oven 400ºF.

Melt butter over low heat in a small pot and combine with hot sauce.

Place chicken in a large bowl and season the pieces with salt and pepper. Pour the butter-hot sauce mixture over the chicken and toss the pieces to coat in the Buffalo sauce. Let stand 10 minutes.

In a salad bowl, combine the blue cheese, lemon juice, mayonnaise or buttermilk, salt and pepper. Add the celery, shredded carrots, scallions and red cabbage. Toss to combine.

Arrange the crushed croutons in a shallow dish. Add the parsley and mix with your fingers to combine. Press the hot sauce-coated chicken into the breadcrumb mixture to coat and set the pieces onto nonstick baking sheet. Transfer to the oven and bake for 40 minutes, until cooked through and golden brown.

Remove the chicken from the oven and serve with the blue cheese-dressed celery and carrot slaw alongside.