Blog Archives
National Fried Chicken Day
Geez there’s a day for everything. Time to celebrate National Fried Chicken Day.
How about an easier fried chicken recipe that doesn’t require a big vat of oil?
This recipe is from America’s Test Kitchen (includes instructional video):
- Photo from America’s Test Kitchen
Easier Fried Chicken
- 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
- Table salt
- Dash hot sauce
- 3 teaspoons ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 3 1/2 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken parts (breasts, thighs, and drumsticks, or a mix, with breasts cut in half), trimmed of excess fat (see note)
- 2cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 2teaspoons baking powder
- 1 3/4cups vegetable oil
- Whisk 1 cup buttermilk, 1 tablespoon salt, hot sauce, 1 teaspoon black pepper, ¼ teaspoon garlic powder, ¼ teaspoon paprika, and pinch of cayenne together in large bowl. Add chicken and turn to coat. Refrigerate, covered, at least 1 hour or up to overnight.
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Whisk flour, baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt, and remaining 2 teaspoons black pepper, ¾ teaspoon garlic powder, ¾ teaspoon paprika, and remaining cayenne together in large bowl. Add remaining ¼ cup buttermilk to flour mixture and mix with fingers until combined and small clumps form. Working with 1 piece at a time, dredge chicken pieces in flour mixture, pressing mixture onto pieces to form thick, even coating. Place dredged chicken on large plate, skin side up.
- Heat oil in 11-inch straight-sided sauté pan over medium-high heat to 375 degrees. Carefully place chicken pieces in pan, skin side down, and cook until golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Carefully flip and continue to cook until golden brown on second side, 2 to 4 minutes longer. Transfer chicken to wire rack set in rimmed baking sheet. Bake chicken until instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of chicken registers 160 degrees for breasts and 175 for legs and thighs, 15 to 20 minutes. (Smaller pieces may cook faster than larger pieces. Remove pieces from oven as they reach -correct temperature.) Let chicken rest 5 minutes before serving.
If the video link above has expired, try this one: Easier Fried Chicken, America’s Test Kitchen
Cold Soups: Cucumber and Tomato
Originally published August 2010
As the last hot days of summer descend, thought another cold soup would be nice. Off to the movies and lunch. Oh, yeah and then to the farm stand for ingredients! The fun of this soup is you mix the two colors separately and then swirl them together in individual bowls. Let your artist loose.
Cucumber and Tomato Cold Soup
- ½ bunch cilantro*
- ¼ onion
- ¼ cup limejuice
- ¼ cup buttermilk
- ¼ cup sour cream
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- 5 large cucumbers, peeled, halved and seeded
- 1 jalapeno
- 1 large tomato, quartered
- ¼ cup chopped cilantro for garnish
Large serving bowl, blender/food processor
Place all ingredients but jalapeno and tomato into food processor or blender and blend until smooth. Pour into serving bowl. Next blend together tomato and jalapeno. Pour into the center top of cucumber mixture and swirl outward with a knife, to create a decorative effect. Serve with cilantro for garnish.
* if you hate cilantro, omit, substitute parsley or some chives.
Crispy (and spicy) Chicken Breast Sandwiches
The other day on another blog, someone mentioned making chicken patties. There were some questions about the recipe, so I went and took a look. It sounded great and I thought, I should make that. But when I went to make it, remembered it called for ground, cooked chicken and thought, eh, too much work. I prefer a chicken breast cutlet with a crisp, spicy crust, anyway. So I decided to play with ingredients to come up with something that made me feel guilty eating it. All spicy and crispy. This what I came up with:
Crispy Chicken Breast Sandwiches
- 4 large boneless-skinless chicken breasts
- 1 cup dill pickle juice
- 1 egg (if you’re going to bake, add 1 tbsp of olive oil to egg)
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 cup panko
- 1 cup Italian bread crumbs
- Olive oil
Spice Mix
- 1 tsp of salt
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp dried marjoram
- 2 tsp dried sage
- 2 tsp dry basil
- 2 tsp of celery seeds
- 1 tsp of black pepper
- 1/2 to 1 tsp cayenne powder
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 2 tsp of paprika
Sandwich Fixin’s
- 8 crusty sesame sandwich rolls
- Mayonnaise
- Tomato slices
- Lettuce
- Dill pickle (or for extra spice, jalapenos – my choice)
skillet
Fillet breasts to make two thin fillets from each breast and then soak in pickle juice for 30 minutes. Transfer chicken to buttermilk and let marinate for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, mix together panko, bread crumbs and spice mix. Beat egg.
Remove chicken from buttermilk mixture, dip in egg and then dredge in breadcrumb mixture, coating well. Fry in skillet with 1-2 tbsp of oil, turning until golden brown on both sides. Or alternately, bake at 375 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes. (I covered it for the first 10-15 minutes to keep it moist, then uncovered to get it crispy).
Serve with sandwich fixin’s.
Cooked fillets can be frozen and reheated in the oven at 450 degrees until heated through.
