BAD Reads
Buffalo Chicken
I posted this recipe last spring, but since (thanks to Blog Explosion) there are more people reading my blog these days, I thought I'd repost it. It's also in honor of our visit last week to see our dear friends in upstate New York. Long, long ago, Beth introduced me to Buffalo Wings. That was almost 25 years (and two daughters each!) for us,but I still have a lot of happy memories of that house we shared while we were in college. We had so little money, but we had such a good time!
Anyway, try this and enjoy it!
BUFFALO BUTTERMILK CHICKEN
A recipe in The Frugal Gourmet first gave me the idea to bake chicken in the oven with a mix of hot sauce and butter or oil. But then a women's magazine had a "Hot Sauce Fried Chicken" from Emeril.
Frankly I loathe Emeril and his whole schtick. But the recipe did give me the idea that I could marinate the chicken in buttermilk with hot sauce. That and baking/broiling instead of frying the chicken makes this nice and low fat. Of course, the blue cheese on the side brings up the calories, but it tastes SO good with this!
Marinade: 1/2 cup buttermilk (the fat free is fine for this)
1/2 cup hot sauce (your choice. We usually use Tobasco, but any hot sauce will do)
Place marinade in a gallon size zipper bag. Add 2-3 pounds of chicken parts--we use bone-in chicken thighs .
Seal the bag. Place the bag in a second bag so it won't leak. Place in the refridgerator to marinate--at least 8 hours, but 24 is even better.
Prepare: Drain buttermilk/hot sauce from bag. Take the dry outer bag and put a small amount of flour or plain breadcrumbs inside. Add chicken pieces one at a time and shake until covered with breading. Place chicken pieces on a sheet pan that has been foil covered and sprayed with cooking spray.
Bake: At 400 degrees for about 30 minutes. Use a cooking thermometer to check the chicken--it should be between 165 and 170 degrees. Place it under the broiler for about 5 minutes so that the top gets crispy. Watch it--you don't want it to burn!
Serve:We like rice with this--of course we do, the Man is Filipino-American. Seriously, plain rice goes well with spicy food--and if you want it spicier, do what the Man does and add hot sauce to your rice!
The traditional Buffalo wings condiment is blue cheese dressing, which we serve on the side. Celery is customary too, but we are not celery people. Instead we like carrot sticks and sometimes cucumbers--nice and cooling with spicy chicken.
Kids Version: For the girls, I marinate chicken in plain buttermilk, then cook it as above. They'll eat the spicy version eventually, but right now--no!
