Sunday, February 21, 2010

Sunday Dinner


What could be better than a delicious home-cooked meal on a dark wintry Sunday night? I know. An easy home-cooked meal! Today I decided to try Oven Fried Chicken, as printed in the Williams-Sonoma "Food Made Fast: Simple Suppers" Cookbook, and you can see how well it turned out!

Really, some days this "Lenten Challenge" doesn't seem like a challenge at all!

It's served with a side of Mashed Potatoes and some Brussel Sprouts (or "health balls", as Suz lovingly refers to them) sauteed in olive oil with salt and pepper. Delicious. Filling. Easy. Healthy (ish), what's not to love?

For the chicken:

Zest and Juice of 1 Lemon
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 Tsp fresh marjoram (I used less because I used dried)
Salt and Pepper
The pieces of 1 Whole Chicken (I just used Chicken Thighs... they're moist and delicious and when you're buying higher quality meat, it saves some money)
2/3 cup Cornmeal (check ingredients list! I bought an organic brand from whole foods)
1/3 cup bread crumbs (again, be careful! The ones I had in the panty had high fructose corn syrup as one of the ingredients!! No thank you! I can put my own stale bread in a food processor, thank you very much!)
1/4 cup Fresh grated Parmesan
4 Tbs unsalted butter, melted (mmmmmm)

First, you have to soak the chicken in a mixture of the buttermilk, lemon juice, 1 teaspoon of the zest, a third of the marjoram, and salt and pepper, which looks like this:


Raw Chicken Thigh Buttermilk!!!

After that soaks for ten minutes, dip each piece of chicken in your cornmeal mixture (Cornmeal, bread crumbs, cheese, remaining zest and marjoram, and more salt and pepper). Throw it on a a shallow roasting pan, or something with sides... it'll get a little messy while it cooks. Drizzle the butter over the chicken and pop in into the oven for 35-45 minutes until it's done.

SO easy and incredibly satisfying!

5 comments:

Emily Y. said...

you are so killing me in number of posts. i will get one up tomorrow. today was the most insane day of my life...work from 9am to 10pm...for my sanity, i had to forgo the challenge for the day, else i would have starved...it's back on tomorrow though!

love this oven fried chicken, looks amazing. aren't brussels sprouts the best?

Emily Y. said...

p.s. i'm thinking of throwing an oscar party - black tie. what do we think? nick will be in greece already. we can do it up ina-style. and post about it of course.

Unknown said...

Mmmmm that looks so amazing....health balls? Oh Suze...I love you so much. I know you'll read this.

Two questions:
1. How does one cook brussels sprouts? Just cut them up and sautee? Or leave them whole, in original health ball form?

2. What the hell is marjoram?

mark711777 said...

Emily, we must discuss! (Love the idea). And don't worry! Sundays aren't part of the 40 days of Lent anyway.

Laura: Brussel Sprouts can be cooked in a number of ways! For this meal, I cut off the ends, then sliced them in half. They're also delicious oven roasted (like every vegetable). Just throw them in a pan with some olive oil and salt and pepper and roast at a high temperature until they're not so tough.

And marjoram is just an herb.... it's oregano-esque.

Suzanne said...

hahahahahaha i love this discussion of health balls. and i am totally in for a black tie oscar party. i have a new gown i'm just itching to wear!!!

i'll make something too...i figured out an emily/mark friendly cookie that was quite delicious...