Fried Chicken: 3 different meals

On Sunday Dave's speaking assignment took him up to Riggins. It's about 100 miles away, so we went as a family.  His speaking companion took his family too, and we planned a picnic in the park for afterwards. What's a picnic without fried chicken?? It's still a picnic, but cold fried chicken just somehow makes it better, right? Anyway, here's how it went down and how we got 3 meals out of it:

I had to cook the chicken on Saturday, so I made extra so we could have hot fried chicken for dinner with some side dishes.

Sunday we planned on a picnic lunch by the river, but after I had the chicken going, Dave found out that the Branch in Riggins was planning a potluck for us. We couldn't pass that up, but I packed up the chicken and cookies just in case we were still hungry afterwards :) Which we were, so it worked perfect to hang out at the park and eat some more before driving back home.

After that, we still had some leftover, so I had to get creative on how to eat it again. I dug through the fridge and found a green pepper, and some rice from a couple of nights earlier. Perfect ingredients for Sweet and Sour Chicken. Easy and Good.

So, there you have it. Cook up some fried chicken and you've got dinner for a few nights. I should mention that I used Chicken Tenders - because I had them, and because it is so much easier to eat it that way than off the bone - and just as good.

Now, the recipes:

Fried Chicken

Soak it in Buttermilk for 4-6 hours (as a brine)
Let it drain well in a colander while you get the station set up.
Turn on your oil (about an inch) to get good and hot
First stop: Flour, seasoned well with salt, pepper and paprika
Second stop: A mixture of egg and milk (sorry, I totally eye-ball it)
Third stop: Panko bread crumbs (some say to divide the flour in half, and then just dip in flour again, I like the crunchiness of Panko)
Fourth stop: Hot oil. Fry it good and brown on both sides - cut open one or two to make sure you are getting it good and cooked.
Let drain on a cooling rack (with a cookie sheet under it to catch the oil) then on a plate lined with paper towels. Before refridgerating, be sure it cools completely.



Sweet and Sour Chicken

I used this sauce recipe as a base, then added a whole bell pepper, diced into 1" cubes, a can of pineapple chunks, drained (using the juice instead of water in the recipe) then adding the leftover fried chicken, cut into cubes, at the end. Serve it over rice.  {Tip: when reheating rice, add water to it, then cover and simmer on low for a bit until it is heated through - tastes like it did after the first cooking if you do it right}