Fried chicken - oven baked, using up more buttermilk.

Somehow eating something bad like fried chicken feels less bad when I have made it? No sense! 

I had been thinking of ways to use up buttermilk and remembered that it is good for marinading chicken in, apparently it makes it really moist. Along those thought lines I decided to use it in a fried chicken version, instead of eggs, for dipping the meat into before covering it in seasoned flour. There are so many versions online for fried chicken, take your pick. Basically you take some flour and season it with whatever you have in the cupboard, go nuts, garlic powder, cayenne, coriander, sage, savoury, Italian seasoning, rosemary, salt and pepper, whatever takes your fancy. I found a packet of 'Shake & Bake' seasoning in the cupboard which I added to the mix for good measure, though this was a first for that. Then you roll your chicken piece in beaten egg, or in this case buttermilk, toss it in the flour until it is fully coated and put it into hot oil in a frying pan. I just sealed it both sides, and once it had a light brown crust I removed it and put it on a foil lined baking tray. Once all the pieces had been sealed the tray went in the oven for about 40mins. Whilst that was happening I quickly boiled up some carrots and turnip to mash and boiled some new, little, red potatoes and peas. I figured that with all that fried chicken I needed some solid, plain boiled vegetables. And gravy! A combination of Clubhouse, Bisto granules, water from the cooked vegetables, ketchup, chilli, Worcestershire and a touch of cinnamon. The tangy gravy was very nice over the blander vegetables and to dip the chicken into. The chicken was phenomenal, so moist and tender yet crunchy and crispy on the outside, I could not have been happier with the outcome. 

For a healthier version of fried chicken (healthier than baking it most of the time after a quick fry) is to bake it entirely. You can also remove the skin which is very fatty. Then you go ahead with the rolling in beaten egg, and into the seasoned flour and then straight into the oven to bake until done. I do this way more often than the frying version (this is only my 2nd attempt at fried chicken) and it is still very tasty, though truth be told I do keep the skin on my chicken because it helps keep the meat moist and makes it go crispy. You can also drain your chicken on paper towel to soak up excess oil or even gently squeeze the pieces in paper towel to remove excess oil. Small ways to make the fat content a little less!

I know a plain vegetable dish isn't very appealing to the eye (and thus the boiled red potato picture has not been put up) but the colour of the carrot/turnip mash is just so vibrant I couldn't help but put it up! I didn't even add butter to this, it was so innocently delicious all on its own. Rock on root vegetables!

And if eating fried chicken wasn't bad enough, I made a quinoa chocolate cake this afternoon which we will be sampling for dessert!