Crunchy chicken without the guilt...

I talked about a recipe for Sesame Twists that we had with the soup last night. I ran out of time to get them posted, so I need to play a little catch up with them first.

If you have a fear of yeast (which you shouldn't!), these breadsticks are just the thing as this recipe uses baking powder for lift instead. Though you do need to wait for the dough to chill, these can be quickly thrown together in the morning if needed, then rolled out and baked later in the day. These golden twists are crisp and very buttery, after all there is a whole stick mashed in - but, you do get 30 breadsticks out of one batch. Nutty whole-wheat flour is mixed with all-purpose which keeps them from being too heavy. Buttermilk keeps them tender with just a hint of sweetness from a small amount of sugar. The crunchy sesame seeds set these apart - be sure to sprinkle them with a little coarse salt when you add the seeds to enhance the flavor. The dough is a little delicate, so try not to be too rough when you are twisting them.

Since I was going to have leftover buttermilk, I opted to make a recipe for Oven-Fried Chicken for dinner tonight. What makes this a little different than most "oven-fried" recipes is that you actually start browning the chicken in a hot skillet before they go in the oven. This gives the crust a head start to get crispy in the oven. Cornmeal is mixed with some slightly spicy seasoned flour to ensure you get that crunch when you bite into them. The original recipe called for bone-in breasts, thighs and legs, but I rarely have them in the freezer... I ended up using all boneless chicken thighs instead. Just be sure to adjust the final time in the oven depending on which chicken pieces you use. The chicken was tender, moist and had a very subtle tang from the buttermilk - next time I may let the chicken sit in the buttermilk mixture for a little while before I start dredging them. To make sure the bottom of the chicken stays crunchy, I preheated the baking sheet for a few minutes before adding the chicken - you could skip this, but I do find it makes a difference! One of the better "oven-fried" recipes we have tried thus far!

Recipes
Sesame Twists
Oven-Fried Chicken