Recipe: Oven Fried Chicken.

I bought a new cookbook.

It's this one.

The other night, Boyfriend and I decided to try out our first recipe.

This recipe was destined to go one of two completely different ways: Boyfriend loves fried chicken. I'm not really a fan.

Here are the details.

OVEN "FRIED" CHICKEN
According to Real Simple magazine

Ingredients:
-Canola oil for the rack
-1/2 teaspoon paprika
-Kosher salt and black pepper
-1 cup buttermilk
2 3/4 pounds bone-in chicken parts, skin removed
1 cup crushed buttery crackers, like Ritz


Directions:
1. Heat oven to 375. Oil wire rack and place it inside of a baking sheet.
2. In a shallow dish, combine paprika, buttermilk, and 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Add chicken and turn to coat.
3. Place crackers in a shallow bowl. Remove chicken from buttermilk mixture and coat in crackers. Press gently to help stick the crackers.
4. Place chicken on wire rack and bake until crispy (or until thermometer reads 160F for white meat and 165F for dark meat). Make sure to turn chicken halfway through the cooking process, at roughly 20 minutes.

Notes:
-For the wire rack, we used olive oil.
-We don't have kosher salt. We used cheap-ass Morton.
-I let the chicken sit in the buttermilk for about 20 minutes because I've heard all the fancy chefs on TV say that the enzymes in buttermilk are good for breaking down the meat.
-I only like chicken breasts. So that's what we used. Before beginning any of the recipe, I placed them in a Ziploc freezer bag and beat the shit out of them with a rolling pin. That way, they'd be nice and tender. Then, I cut each breast into 2-3 strips. Because I like chicken strips.
-We used grocery store brand "butter crackers". I wasn't disappointed.
-Since we used "tenderized" breasts, we also only cooked it for approximately 35 minutes total.

Review:
This chicken never got "golden" or "fried" looking like the picture in the magazine. And it didn't really TASTE like fried chicken either. With that said, this chicken was really good. The meat was juicy and tender. The coating really was rich and buttery. And if there's one thing I like, it's RichAndButtery. It reminded me of something I would have eaten when I was little. Like, if I lived in the south or something. Because they eat a lot of fried chicken in the south, right? Anyway, it was definitely a kid-friendly meal, that's for sure.

Serving up this plate of belly-filling goodness made me feel like a real life June Cleaver. It seems really wholesome and familyish. The leftovers were even good the next day. I think next time, I might try adding more paprika to the buttermilk and salt/ pepper to the crushed crackers.

This recipe was easy to make and yielded a filling result. Make this on Friday night and you'll have a great snack to take to the beach on Saturday.

Boner'ppetite!