Winter Chicken

I call this post "winter chicken" somewhat ironically, because I made this chicken with thoughts of the next season. Thoughts of sitting outdoors with a picnic basket and a case of beer and my hula hoop. I thought about having some fresh watermelon to go with this meal of fried chicken, sweet-potato fries and brussel sprouts. I thought of everything that brought me out of my wintery gloom, and so therefore I dub thee Winter Chicken, because you are the chicken I eat in winter to reduce my ailing for the sun.

Not that this winter has been all bad. Granted I haven't made many posts online, which might indicate I've been lazy in the kitchen and/or a bad blogger (does that equal death on the internet?). But in fact I have been making some very delicious one-pot dishes (braised lamb shanks, unnh) and most everything from my cookbook Jerusalem (lamb Kofta, kibbeh, hummus...). So there, recap done. I been bizzy, ok?
Also, looking after this little guy Billy in VT for awhile.

But I'm shortly beginning a Spring cleanse diet (ala My New Roots blogger Sarah Britton) so I figured I should indulge in one more meaty, gluten-y, fry-me-up-good-and-happy meal. And hey, if it's a Spring cleanse that means the winter's almost over, right? (where have I been?)

The fried chicken I made was a standard recipe. I brined the chicken over a few hours in the fridge with a brine of 1 cup water/ 1/4 cup salt ratio. I added some spices and peppercorns and citrus to the brine to give it flavour (improvise!). Then I had a bowl of buttermilk and a bowl of flour, cayenne, s and p and some herbs. I heated some veggie oil in a skillet, waited til it was good and hot and then dunked in the flour, buttermilk, flour...BAM into the fryer. Wait til it's goldeny brown.

For the sweet potato fries, use Sarah Britton's recipe....it's rad. And use many of her other recipes, they will totally change the way you think about food (and then you can do her cleanse with me!)

Winter is nearing it's soupy, slushy, numbing end everyone! Let's drink to that!