Recipe(tried): Crunchy Skinless Oven-Fried Chicken served with Rosemary and Chevre Mashed Potatoes and Warm Bacon Vinaigrette Spinach and Frissee Salad

Morning Everyone!

Well the snow continues here in NYC and more is promised to be on its way! Believe it or not a modern day Currier and Ives seems to be running through my head. Sans the sleigh and country motif. Add skyscrapers whose top floors now appear to be home of the gods hidden beneath the heavy silver grey clouds showering the city scape with white confetti, a celebration parade made for heros.

Cold weather and snow always spells enjoyable days spent in a warm kitchen preparing "comfort food". Can't think of anything better. So, I decided to prepare a new favorite recipe. I've made it almost a dozen times since I first saw it in "Cuisine at Home" last February (2003). I've adapted it a little bit, but that is where the basic recipe originated. Skinless Oven-Fried Chicken. Believe it or not, if you prepare the recipe as follows You will never miss the calories nor the unbelieveable crunchy coating and flavor that normally the skin provides.

I served the Skinless Oven-Fried Chicken with Rosemary and Chevere Mashed Potatoes, and a Warm Bacon Vinegaigrette Spinach and Frissee salad.


First off the brining makes all of the difference in the world when preparing Chicken or Pork. It makes SUCH a difference that once you try it you will never want to prepare Chicken or Pork any other way. Brining causes the Chicken to "super saturate" with liquid or brining solution. Brining is normally a Salt, water mixture and then the addition of either vinegar or sugar depending if you want a sweetness or savoriness. Usually with chicken I use sugar, and with pork I use vinegar.

In The Cook's Illustrated Complete Book of Poultry it states "We started by weighing several 11-pound birds after they had been brined and found an average weight gain of almost 3/4 pound. Even more impressive, we found that brined birds weighed 6 to 8 ounces more AFTER roasting than a same sized bird that had not been brined Brined birds are juicier Our tasters found that brining gave the roasted bird a firm meaty texture and well-seasoned flavor."

The salt water solution causes the proteins in chicken or pork to absorb the water/vinegar or water/sugar solution. While the blood or imperfections are being drawn out of the protein. I guess it is very similar to an old fashioned technique of "koshering".

Skinless Oven-Fried Chicken

For the Brine
(I prefer to use a brine from Cooks Illustrated.)
Dissolve:
3/4 cup of Kosher salt
3/4 cup of sugar
1 quart of water

Prepare:
6-7 pieces of your favorite chicken parts removing the skin.

For the Coating:
Combine:
3 cups all-purpose flour
2-3 Tablespoons ground black pepper
1 Tablespoon Kosher salt
1 Tablespoon paprika

Beat:
3 egg whites until they form soft peaks.

Add:
1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Heat:
3 Tablespoons of vegetable oil

1---Start off by making the brine solution and then pour into a gallon zip lock bag. Or a large container.

2---Next place 6-7 pieces of your favorite chicken parts. (I like thighs and breasts.) Skin removed, into the brine mixture and refrigerate for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

3---Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Coat a 9x13 inch Pyrex baking dish with nonstick cooking spray (PAM). *** glass baking dish holds temperature better, without fluctuating than metal.

4--- While oven is preheating. Make your coating mixture by combining flour, pepper, salt and paprika in a large gallon size ziplock type bag.

5---Remove the chicken from the brine and lightly pat dry. Place a few of the pieces into the bag of seasoned flour and toss to coat. Shake off excess flour and place on a rack. Let sit for 10 minutes (I use a wire cookie rack with wax paper underneath to ease the clean up.)

6--- Beat egg whites to soft peaks.

7---Next add buttermilk to the egg whites and stir gently.

8--- Dip floured chicken pieces into the egg white-buttermilk mixture. Put the dipped pieces back into the seasoned flour bag. Shake gently and transfer to the rack. Repeat with the remaining chicken.

*** I have found that it gets a little messy so I only put a little of the seasoned flour into the bottom of a second ziplock bag, add the dipped chicken piece, sprinkle a little flour on top, Remove the piece of battered chicken place back on to the rack, then repeat the same process until all of the chicken pieces have been coated a second time. If you do it all in the same seasoned flour bag, by the time you get to the third or fourth piece, you have a messy clump of batter in the bottom of the bag, with no flour mixture to complete the process.

9---Heat the 3 Tablespoons of vegetable oil in the Pyrex baking dish you have already sprayed with PAM and place it into the oven for 5-10 minutes. (allowing the oil to get hot).

****CAREFULLY remove the baking dish from the oven with the HOT oil. ***Remember*** this dish is HOT!!! And so is the oil. It is easy to forget after you are placing the chicken into the dish REMEMBER to use pot holders to then place back into the oven !!!!*****

10---Set the prepared chicken pieces, meaty-side down, into the hot dish. Then place back into the oven; roast for 30 minutes.

11---Remove the dish from the oven and carefully turn the pieces over. Return to the oven and roast an additional 20 minutes more. Remove chicken from the oven and let rest 15 minutes before serving.

Rosemary and Chevre Mashed Potatoes
from Cuisine at Home Decemeber issue 2003

2 1/2 lbs Yukon gold potatoes, Peeled, diced into 2-inch cubes
3 sprigs rosemary, tied together
4 Tablespoons butter melted
4 oz. chevre (goat cheese)
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 Tablespoon minced fresh rosemary
1 Tablespoon lemon zest, minced
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper.

1---Cook potatoes and tied rosemary sprigs in salted water 15-20 minutes, or until tender.

2---Remove sprigs and drain potatoes. Return potatoes to the pan and dry briefly over medium heat, stirring often to prevent scorching. Remove pan from heat.

3---Mash potatoes and stir in butter to coat.

4---Add goat cheese; stir until melted. Fold in the buttermilk, minced rosemary, zest and seasonings.


Warm Bacon Vinaigrette Spinach and Frissee Salad
Adapted from a Cooks Illustrated recipe.

6 cups baby spinach greens
2 cups frissee greens (may omit if unable to find)

4 slices of bacon cut into 1/4 inch pieces
2 Tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup red onion finely chopped
Pinch of salt
Pinch of pepper
Pinch of sugar
2 Tablespoons of balsamic vinegar.

Place greens in a large bowl.

In a small skillet fry the bacon pieces over medium heat until crisp. Transer to a paper towel-lined plate leaving fat in the skillet. Return skillet to medium heat and add olive oil, onion, salt, pepper and sugar. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is slightly softened. (2-3 minutes). Add balsamic vinegar. Swirl to incorporate. Pour warm dressing over greens and toss gently to wilt. Sprinkle bacon bits over greens and serve immediately.