Panko Crusted Buttermilk Chicken and Fork Mashed Garlic Potatoes

I noticed something tonight as I was making dinner that I haven't paid attention to before. We eat a lot of mashed potatoes and spinach! I'm not quite sure why that is, We really do like spinach but we also like practically every other vegetable there is too, so why am I always making spinach and mashed potatoes as our side dishes? I think it might have to do with the amount of time I spend preparing the main part of the meal, I lose energy and go with the old standbys. I need to work on that. I declare that from now on I will make more interesting sides and less interesting mains!

Maybe I'll just try to find a way to balance out both. That would be much more practical. As I'm writing this I realize that the flaw may be in my meal planning thought process rather than running out of energy during cooking. Let's see, I'll make chicken, but I'll marinate it overnight in buttermilk and then do this and then that and add this and that, oh! and maybe throw some of this in, then I'll cook it like that... and oh!, I guess I better pick up more spinach and potatoes.

Later for that, it's time I tried going loco!

But since I didn't decide to go loco until after I cooked dinner Friday, and planned the meals for the weekend, we'll have to wait a bit for that.

Fridays dinner was very good, even with just spinach and mashed potatoes as the sides. I was inspired by a recipe I saw in my newly re-discovered copy of the "New York Times Cookbook" by Craig Claiborne. Southern Fried Chicken but with Deb modifications like breading the chicken in Panko. Panko is a Japanese bread coating that makes whatever you coat it with so super crispy and crunchy it's almost scary. I told Tom as we were eating our super crunchy crispy dinner that it would be freaky to find out, years from now that Panko was shredded fiberglass or something equally frightening. But we know it's not really shredded fiberglass.

Thursday night Craig Claiborne wanted me to put my thighs in a bowl (I mean the boneless chicken thighs!) and cover them with milk and 1/4 teaspoon of tobasco for an hour. I put the boneless chicken thighs in a Tupperware® like product and covered them with buttermilk and 1/2 teaspoon of tobasco and refrigerated them overnight. Friday evening I put 2 cups of flour in bowl and to that I added salt, fresh ground pepper, white pepper, chili powder, a lot of paprika and a pinch of crushed red pepper. I tasted the mixture to adjust the flavors and set aside. In another bowl I had Panko ready and waiting and in yet another bowl I had beaten 2 eggs with 2 tablespoons of cold water. I dipped each buttermilk/tobasco marinated boneless thigh into the seasoned flour and turned to coat them well, then into the egg turning to coat well, and finally into the panko where I sort of pressed the chicken into the flakes turning and pressing until everything was coated. I coated the whole batch of chicken first rather than try to coat them and fry at the same time. I turned the oven on to warm it and put a dish in there so that as the chicken cooked and needed transferring I had a warm place to keep it while I cooked the next batch. Now, Craig Claiborne wanted me to pan-fry this on the stove with a pound of lard OR 2 cups of corn oil. I made 2 modifications here, I used butter and vegetable oil because, A. I read the recipe wrong and thought he wanted me to fry the chicken using both fats, and B. I didn't want to use a pound of lard, so I used butter and far far far less than he was calling for I might add. (I'm thinking his version might be very very tasty, but I'd like to see my next birthday). I started boiling water for potatoes and chopping garlic. With the chicken done and warming in the oven, I started marching around the kitchen with a pot on my head and a pillow-case tied around my neck. OH! no I wasn't I was boiling some red new potatoes with the skins on, together with 3 cloves of garlic until tender, then draining, and mashing with a fork, salt and pepper, a little heavy cream and some Double Devon Cream Butter (scroll down about midway). I didn't pay as much for mine, my local gourmet market actually carries it. This is serious butter, you don't need to use a lot, it's tasty and rich and flavorful so a little goes a long way. I heated some olive oil in a pan, threw in some minced garlic and sauteed until just starting to brown, then added the washed and drained spinach, covered with a lid until it cooked itself down, then off the heat and ready for the plate. Dinner was ready. I'm writing this now and it doesn't sound like it took a long time to make the meal, but while I was cooking dinner I remember thinking it was taking far too long to do such a simple meal. (shrug)

Final thoughts:This was very good, the chicken was very tender and juicy and flavorful on the inside with this incredible crispy crunch on the outside that was spicy and fragrant. The potatoes and spinach as boring as I made them sound were actually just perfect with this. While I was cooking I kept thinking to make a white gravy-something peppery and oniony but I never got around to it. The chicken was actually so moist and flavorful it didn't need gravy.

Written by Deb on February 15, 2003 12:02 AM