What's Cooking Wednesday: Healthy Comfort Food: "Fried" Chicken, "Fries," and Greens

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Every month or so during the summer, we order three chickens from a local farmer. These chickens are delicious, free-range, and antibiotic- and hormone-free. For those local readers, we get them from Ernst Farm.

Usually, I roast the chickens. C and D just love roast chicken, especially with mashed potatoes. Today, however, my schedule was screwy and I couldn't be home for the full roasting time. And then I thought I was really, really in the mood for fried chicken. And then I thought that was a really, really bad idea for my health and weight.

As with most areas of cooking, however, I was able to compromise. We had a great comfort food supper of Fried Chicken, Fries and great greens, and fat and particularly saturated fat, was kept to a minimum. I give you:

A Healthy Comfort Food Supper



(The sucky photography fairy is still visiting me, so my apologies for the photo.)

"Fried" Chicken

Ingredients:

1 3-5 lb. chicken, skinned and carved into pieces
2 cups of lowfat buttermilk (or less - see below)
4 smashed garlic cloves
a few dashes of hot sauce to taste
1 - 2 cups of seasoned bread crumbs
1/4 - 1/2 cup grated parmesan

1. Mix together buttermilk, garlic and hot sauce in a large bowl. Throw in chicken pieces and marinate for 2 - 12 hours.
2. When ready to cook, preheat oven to 400 and put the rack up to the upper third of the oven. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with olive oil cooking spray.
3. Mix together the bread crumbs and parmesan.
4. Shake each piece of chicken to get rid of excess buttermilk, and then cover the chicken piece completely with the crumb/parmesan coating. Place on baking sheet.
5. Spray the chicken with the olive oil spray.
6. Bake for 25 minutes, turn carefully, and bake for 25 minutes more.

Serves 4 - 6.

Fingerling "Fries"

2 - 3 lbs. of Fingerling potatoes
1 - 2 TBS olive oil
kosher salt to taste
Montreal Steak seasoning to taste

1. You can use a lower rack for this recipe, which will also be cooked at 400 for 50 minutes. If you're just making the fries, preheat the oven to 400.
2. Wash and scrub a batch of fingerling potatoes. Make enough for however many people you're feeding (you know your friends/family's appetites better than I do!) Most folks will use about 2 - 3 lbs. to cover two baking sheets.
3. Cover two baking sheets with foil. Slice potatoes into 1/2" thick wedges.
4. Toss potatoes in 1 - 2 TBS olive oil. (I used 2, 1 would have been sufficient).
5. Spread potatoes evenly on baking sheets.
6. Bake for 25 minutes, then flip them over and bake for 25 more minutes.
7. When fries are ready, sprinkle them with kosher salt and Montreal steak seasoning and toss.

Serves 4 - 6

Jen's Really Good Greens

Ingredients:

1 bunch fresh kale, rinsed and torn into bite size pieces
2 LARGE cloves garlic, sliced
olive oil spray
kosher salt to taste
2 pinches of cayenne pepper (or more, to taste)
1 - 2 TBS red wine vinegar.

1. Spray frying pan and heat to medium/medium high.
2. Throw sliced garlic into the pan and cook about 30 seconds, until odor is released.
3. Throw in the kale and cook until kale wilts.
4. Take off the heat and season with the salt, cayenne pepper and red wine vinegar.

Serves 2 - 3.