Buttermilk Fried Chicken

I'm in a complete state of shock as I write this. I leave town for one night and look what happens! Do you see this?? CAN YOU BELIEVE THE NERVE? This is just wrong, cruel and I consider it modern torture.

THIS is what I am talking about. My incredibly wonderful and spontaneous boyfriend turned into a creatively cruel person. OH, you haven't seen the worst of it....

Look at the note on top! It is 5:30 PM now and Jim will not get home until 11 PM tonight. How in the world can I sit in the living room and stare at this box without opening it? It's going to drive me crazy, and that is exactly what Jim is trying to do. Oh, yes he thinks he's a funny guy.

He didn't say I couldn't shake it. (He will learn to be more specific in the future) Also, I just remembered a Container Store bag in the trash can a few days ago (the trash can located in the garage...like he was hiding something) Here are some guesses... Jim knows about my wish list on my web site. Just by looking at the size of the box I'm ruling out the KitchenAid mixer, the mandoline and the cordless immersion blender. The shape is most like the salad spinner. And because the box is fairly light my final guess is a salad spinner.

How fun! I can't wait to open it!!!!

Let's talk chicken...it's my way of trying to take my mind of the surprise birthday present. (A present that is 19 days early!)

We should all probably limit the amounts of fried foods we eat, but (especially) in the south, knowing how to make fried chicken is pretty important - or dare I say I necessity.

I've done this method before and been successful, so I decided to experiment a little and see the outcome from this marinade. Here are two frozen boneless skinless chicken breast that I placed in a zip top bag with one cup of buttermilk (only a cup because that is what was left over from another recipe.)

I wanted more liquid so I added 1/3 cup of plain yogurt.

I like this brand of plain low fat yogurt...like it says on the side there it is very smooth and creamy.

Here is where I just went crazy. No measurements here, I just shook my spices in the zip top bag until it felt right. I used cumin, basil, celery salt, smoky chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, parsley flakes and thyme, salt and pepper.

I closed the bag, mixed it up a little, gave it a label and sat it in the fridge for the chicken to defrost and soak in the marinade.

48 hours later I drained the chicken in a colander.

Then put them back in the bag and beat with a meat tenderizer until the chickens were of an even thickness.

Then because I wanted these to be "pretty" chickens, I cut off the stringy stuff and made them into a nice shape.

Now we prepare our assembly line. You can use whatever flour you have. I'm using whole wheat because this is what I had on hand.

There are MANY options for your crust. You could make your own breadcrumbs, use crushed crackers, cornflake cereal even. I'm using Panko crumbs which are japanese bread crumbs most often seen in sushi restaurants. It gives a nice flaky and light crust when fried or baked...or both in this instance.

Normally, I would beat an egg or two with a tablespoon of water. I like egg in a carton because it is so convenient for me.

Here is the set up. Three shallow bowls - flour, egg and breadcrumbs.

First thing I do is lightly pat the chicken dry with a paper towel. A step that I skipped but absolutely recommend is to now re-season the chicken with salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder. By skipping this step my chicken lacked lots of flavor even though the marinade it soaked in was packed full of spices.

"Dredge" the chicken in the flour first. Basically, lay in the flour dish and move it around a little.

Then flip it over and coat the other side with flour.

Lift the chicken and shake a little to get the excess flour to fall off, then dip in the egg mixture.

Flip and coat the other side, then lift and let the excess drip off. If you are wondering how I did this and take pictures, I designated my left hand for "dredging" and held the camera with my right hand.

The last step is to cover in your breadcrumbs.

You want to get both sides good and coated.

Repeat with the other chicken(s).

Even though, I end up baking the chicken in the oven, I'm first going to fry it in a teeny weenie bit of oil to get the crust nice and golden. I'm using grapeseed oil here because of its health benefits.

To the one tablespoon of oil I add one tablespoon of butter.

And I actually don't even use the whole tablespoon here I simply rub it around the pan a little to coat.

Once the pan and oil are really hot I put the first piece of chicken in. I've read you don't want to crowd the pan so I'm cooking these one at a time.

I watch it cook for about a minute and check to see if it's golden, then flip.

Once both sides are crisp and golden I place on a foil lined baking sheet.

I do the same with the other chicken and then top them both with a pat of butter before going into the oven at 350 for 30 minutes.

Perfectly cooked chicken with a nice crispy crust. The buttermilk and yogurt marinade I believe added to the very juicy chicken. Again, even though my marinade had mucho spices, I still felt like another sprinkle of seasoning before the flour and egg wash would have been better. I served this buttermilk fried chicken with roasted red pepper and black olive risotto. Stay tuned, that delicious recipe is coming up.

Have you voted? I'm talking about the poll on the right side of my web page. I'd love to know what YOUR favorite Thanksgiving day food is.

Update: Jim got off work around 11 PM and I was already asleep, but I brought the present to bed with me. I woke up when the dogs started barking as he arrived. He asked if I just wanted to wait until morning to open the gift. Heck no! I opened it last night and it indeed was a SALAD SPINNER and I'm very happy. Thanks JIM!! I love you!