Spicy Chicken "Under a Brick"

My husband and I love spicy food and I am always trying to come up with new ways to add heat to our meals. This chicken is not super spicy, but has just the right amount of heat and lots of great flavor. I've based this on Rachel Ray's Hot Pepper Chicken Under a Brick. Click here for her original recipe. To see my version, adapted for our personal taste, please read below.

I use a whole chicken and cut it myself, but feel free to buy pre-cut pieces at the market. I find it cheaper at my store to buy the whole chicken, plus I get to save the extra bones and giblets for sauces and stock.

Spicy Chicken "Under a Brick" - adapted from a Rachel Ray recipe.

Ingredients:

• One whole chicken, cut into individual pieces.
• Kosher Salt
• Fresh Ground Black Pepper
• 2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 Tbs Dijon Mustard
• 2 Tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 5 - 6 Tbs finely chopped pepperoncini peppers (approximately 5 or 6 whole peppers chopped)
• 2 - 3 Tbs juice from the jar of pepperoncinis
• Handful of fresh finely chopped parsley.

Directions:

1. Season the chicken with salt and pepper.
2. In a small bowl, add the crushed red pepper, mustard and the oil. Stir or whisk to combine well.
3. Massage mixture over the skin of the chicken and let sit for several minutes while your pan heats on medium heat. (If I have any of the mixture left over, I will sometimes try to put some of it under the skin as well.)
4. Place chicken skin side down in a large nonstick skillet and cover loosely with foil then place a smaller pan or heat resistant plate on top of the foil and weigh it down with a few heavy cans.
5. After approximately 18 - 20 minutes flip the chicken over and reduce heat to medium-low and cook for about 2 - 5 minutes, until cooked through.
6. Remove cans and sprinkle with chopped peppers and pepper juice.
7. Top with parsley and enjoy!