Cooking Therapy

There’s very few meals that I can eat that genuinely put a smile on my face with each bite. Crispy fried chicken is one of those meals. For the recipe below I give you simplified step-by-step instructions on how to make a delicious crispy fried chicken dinner for you, your family, and your friends. Trust me, nothing is better than coming home to a large pile of fried chicken! Try yours today!

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes for biscuits, 45 minutes for chicken

Wait Time: 2 hours up to overnight to marinate chicken

Serves 4

Ingredients

For the chicken:

8 pieces legs and thighs, or a whole chicken trimmed, and cut; leave skin on

4 cups of yogurt for marinade

3 cups of flour

6oz or half a bottle/can of beer

Juice and zest from half a lemon

2 tbs kosher salt

2 tbs black pepper

4 teaspoons smoked paprika

4 teaspoons garlic powder

4 teaspoons ground oregano

4 teaspoons red chili flakes

2 teaspoons zaatar seasoning

2 teaspoons cayenne

2 teaspoons dried basil

2 teaspoons dried thyme

corn or peanut oil for frying

For the biscuits:

4 cups of unbleached, all-purpose flour

2 sticks of butter, cold

1 teaspoon kosher salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 ½ cups of buttermilk (if you don’t have buttermilk, add the juice from half a lemon to equal measurements of heavy cream or whole milk and stir and let sit for 5 minutes)

1 egg yolk

For the mashed potatoes

2 pounds golden potatoes, peeled and cleaned

1 cup of whole milk or heavy cream

2 tablespoons butter

5 cloves of garlic

Instructions

• Season both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper
• Prep the yogurt marinade first and let the chicken soak in it for a minimum of 2 hours to maximum overnight. To prep the marinade, in a large bowl add the yogurt, beer, lemon juice and zest, a small drizzle of extra virgin olive oil if you have it, and half of the measurements for the spices, and mix. Place the chicken in a deep tray or large bowl and pour the marinade over it. Cover with aluminum foil and place in fridge

 

• While chicken is marinating, prepare the biscuits and boil the potatoes. See instructions below
• Before taking the chicken out, prepare the dredging flour. Add three cups of flour in a large bowl and season it with the remainder half of the seasonings and mix

• Heat a Dutch oven or large, deep frying pan with 4 cups of oil over a medium high flame until it reaches 350 degrees
• Take the chicken out and begin the coating process. Piece by piece, shake of any excess marinade and generously coat all sides with the flour. Shake off any excess flour. Place chicken skin down and fry between 8-10 minutes on each side depending on size of piece. You want each side to have a nice brown, crisp texture. Repeat process until each piece is cooked. Place on wire rack with paper towels underneath to absorb any dripping oil
• Fix a plate with the biscuits and mashed potatoes and enjoy!

For the Biscuits:

• Using a cheese grater, shred the butter into a small bowl and set it aside
• In a large bowl, add the flour, salt, baking soda and powder and mix
• Add the butter and using two forks mix and fold over the dry ingredients until they begin to look like coarse crumbs
• Using the forks, push the mixture aside leaving a hole in the mixture. Add the buttermilk
• Push the mixture into the buttermilk and mix and fold over using the forks until the buttermilk is absorbed and the mixture become doughy and crumbly
• Empty the mixture from the bowl onto a flat surface and pack it close together without pushing it down with force
• Using a rolling pin, softly flatten out the dough mixture until it is about ½ inch in height. Fold it over itself and flatten out again
• Flatten to where it’s about 1 inch in height.
• Using a biscuit cutter, push down on the dough to mark cut out the biscuits. Place them on a parchment paper lined baking tray a few millimeters apart from one another

• Pack the remaining dough together and repeat the process until there is no more dough left
• Place the baking tray in the fridge and let it cool for a few. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Beat the egg yolk to create an egg wash, feel free to add a few drops of water to make it runny.
• When the oven has heated, take the biscuits out of the fridge and using a brush, coat the top of them with the egg wash
• Place them in the oven and bake for 35 minutes
• Let them cool down and enjoy warm

 

For the mashed potatoes:

• Boil potatoes and garlic cloves over a medium high heat in salted water until they soften enough that a fork easily pokes through, about 10 to 15 minutes. Once they are done, strain the water and the garlic cloves, and leave the potatoes in the pot
• In a small pot, heat the milk or heavy cream and melt the butter in the milk. Add salt and pepper to taste and stir. Transfer into pot with potatoes. Turn on a low heat and, using a masher or the back of ladle, mash and mix the potatoes with the milk until a creamy mixture forms. Taste for flavor and if needed, add more salt and pepper and stir