Fried Chicken

It seems like every time I have chicken thighs, I make Greek Chicken.  While I personally love my Greek Chicken, change is also very good!  I NEVER make fried chicken, the closest I ever come is oven-fried chicken.  I'm personally not a huge fan of poultry, but I figured Bill would love the change of pace, and he did!  He actually LOVED this chicken! It does take a while.  I made my own buttermilk, it's easy enough and you can find the recipe from this oldie but goodie:  "You can catch more flies with honey than VINEGAR, assuming you want to catch flies!", it's located under the cooking and food uses.  You can soak the chicken in the buttermilk anywhere from 1 hour to 24 hours!  I soaked mine for about 5 hours, obviously the longer you soak, the better.  Just lay the chicken flat in a shallow dish, pour the buttermilk over it, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use.  I fried the chicken thighs in the pan and oil for the whole time, but I think next time I may just fry them until the outside gets crisp and then bake them the rest of the way.  It took me about 50 or so minutes to fry them, which seemed drastically long because they weren't all that thick to begin with!  

Makes about 4 servings

Ingredients:

• about 5-6 chicken thighs, roughly 1 1/2-2 lbs total
• 1 cup buttermilk (store bought or homemade, look for the recipe above)
• 1 cup of all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2-2 tspn of seasoning salt
• 1/2 tspn chili powder
• 1/2 tspn ground black pepper
• 1/2 tspn garlic powder
• oil for frying

Directions:

• Soak the chicken in the buttermilk, as explained above, for desired time.

• Combine the flour and the spices in a large resealable bag.
• Drain the thighs and put into resealable bag, one at a time.  Toss to coat.  This is a fun part for your child to help with!  Mine did, and had a blast!  

• Shake off excess flour and put on a wax paper lined baking sheet.  Repeat with remaining thighs.  Let stand for 15-20 minutes.

• Heat about 1/4" of oil in a large fry pan.  Fry each side until a deep golden brown.  (Next time here is where I would drain the chicken on paper towels and then I would bake until cooked through).  Cover and cook for 30 minutes, turning occassionally to keep from burning.  Uncover and cook for about another 15 minutes, turning to prevent burning until chicken is cooked through.  

• Drain chicken pieces on paper towels.  Serve with your favorite sides!