Last night’s dinner
Gotta say, the garlic chicken was nothing to write home about. It smelled amazing while it was cooking but was mediocre at best.
Here is a MUCH better recipe and I pulled this out of the freezer to make-up for the garlic recipe. I originally saw it on Tyler Florence’s show “The Ultimate” (the food is good and he’s not hard on the eyes either) and have now made it many times. I like to use the drumsticks and boneless chicken thighs for this recipe. I’m not fond of frying (messy) so when I do fry I make an enormous amount and freeze the majority after we gorge ourselves. Just heat it up in the oven to make it crispy again. I tend to freeze four or five pieces together and just take out what I need at the time. Don’t skip the brining stage as you get really moist and seasoned chicken out of it.
Ingredients
1 (3 to 4 pound) chicken, cut up into 10 pieces
Kosher salt
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons onion powder
2 tablespoons sweet paprika
2 teaspoons cayenne
Freshly ground black pepper
1 quart (if you don’t have it then just sour the milk with a bit of vinegar)
2 tablespoons hot chili sauce (recommended: Srirachi)
Peanut oil, for frying
(I’ve used canola and the taste is still great-I tend to not use peanut oil if I’m freezing something as I might forget and serve it to someone who is allergic to nuts-I trip to the hospital is not what I like to pair meals with)
1/4 bunch fresh thyme
3 big sprigs fresh rosemary
1/4 bunch fresh sage
1/2 head garlic, smashed, husk still attached
Lemon wedges, for serving
Directions
Put the chicken pieces into a large bowl. Cover the chicken with water by 1 inch; add 1 tablespoon of salt for each quart of water used. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight.
In a large shallow platter, mix the flour, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, and cayenne until well blended; season generously with salt and pepper. In another platter combine the buttermilk and hot sauce with a fork and season with salt and pepper.
Drain the chicken and pat it dry. Dredge the pieces, a few at a time, in the flour mixture,
then dip them into the buttermilk; dredge them again in the seasoned flour. Set aside and let the chicken rest while you prepare the oil.
Put about 3 inches of oil into a large deep pot; it should not come up more than half way. Add the thyme, rosemary, sage, and garlic to the cool oil and heat over medium-high heat until the oil registers 350 to 365 degrees F on one of those clip-on deep-fry thermometers. The herbs and garlic will perfume the oil with their flavor as the oil comes up to temperature.
Once the oil has reached 350 to 365 degrees F, working in batches, carefully add the chicken pieces 3 or 4 at a time. Fry, turning the pieces once, until golden brown and cooked through, about 12 minutes. Total cooking time should be about 30 minutes. When the chicken is done, take a big skimmer and remove the chicken pieces and herbs from the pot, shaking off as much oil as you can, and lay it on a tea towel or brown paper bag to soak up the oil. Sprinkle all over with more salt and a dusting of cracked black pepper. Repeat with the remaining chicken pieces. Once all the chicken is fried, scatter the fried herbs and garlic over the top. Serve hot, with big lemon wedges.
Tonight’s dinner
Today is the day of a thousand errands so bbq hamburgers are going to be quick but tasty. A nice little twiest to them is to add bacon bits to the burger mixture before cooking them and I’m just going to put them on a nice crunchy baguette. Bacon makes everything better.
{Adventuresindinner} 