Hot Soul Food on a Cold Cold Night

Comfort food on a cold , cold fall day.  With this last week of crazy whacked weather It was nice to do some soul searching in the culinary scene. So I decided to  go back to my grandmothers cast Iron set and oil it up and get that pot nice and hot for the all that seasoning to work effectively to pierce that dirty bird that going to meet it's fate in a hot 350 degree oil bath tonight. This particular dish touches my heart and It was nice to share with friends and I recommend to share with everyone. It all started with a whole chicken and cut up into 8 pieces. Marinated in buttermilk, 2 Tablespoons of Dijon mustard, 1 teaspoon of garlic powder, 1 teaspoon of onion powder, 1 teaspoon of red pepper chili flakes and salt and crushed black pepper. Place all ingredients into a large bowl and cover with buttermilk and marinate in the fridge for a minimum of 8 hours if possible over night for enhanced flavor.

Fried Chicken Breast, Garlic Mashers, Mushroom Gravy, Honey Lime Carrots 

  

Now one of my favorites peel the potatoes and cut into a large dice and place in a 8 quart stainless steel pot and salt generously and boil to that perfect consistency. In a small sauce pan reduce your heavy cream and butter and infuse your small diced garlic for your masher mix. 

Yummy carrot's 

Now for the carrots all we need is a bag and peel them all because they tasty so good you will eat every singe one. After you peel your carrots we want to cut them into roundels and blanch them for 45 to 50 seconds and immediately ice bath them, set aside and reserve for later.

Once the oil is good and hot then lets get this bird ready for the cast iron.  We will use 2 cups of ap flour and and all the spices that we want to dredge our chicken in. Shake off each piece of chicken from the buttermilk and drudge in a plastic bag that has the flour in it. Remove from bag and dredge back in the buttermilk mixture and flour again yes that's right folks we just did a double dredge. We will now fry the chicken in batches for about 3 - 4 minutes per side until golden brown and finish in the oven for 30 minutes.

Did I say mushroom gravy ??  Yes, after the chicken has been fried I remove all the oil from the skillet and I add 2 tablespoons of flour mixture and fat to make a roux.  Fresh mushrooms sauteed in a separate pan with butter, garlic and onion. Once the roux is nice and golden brown I add the mushrooms and chicken stock to the pan and reduce by half. Once that has occurred I add 1 cup of heavy cream and reduce that by half. Finish with butter for shine and salt and pepper to taste.

It's all about the Gravy

Now the carrots place those bad boys in a saute pan with 1 cup of honey,butter, and fresh squeezed limes and saute finish with salt and pepper.Serve that shit hot and enjoy it !!!