Some nights are healthier than others at Storkbite’s house.  Papa has been working hard lately, so I decided to reward him with the best fried chicken I could make.  Because he loves it so much he even got involved in the production process so everybody won.  Polenta night means that our coffers are empty, I’m out of ideas and there isn’t any time for preparation.  Here is what we came up with.

Fried Chicken and Biscuits

Even though fried food is totally unhealthy, I did my best to select free-range anti-biotic free bird for the project.  It all got washed, dried, dredged in flour, then in buttermilk, then in panko bread crumbs souped up with Old Bay and salt.  Into the hot hot hot oil the little birds went.  We ended up with best fried chicken I’ve ever made.

The biscuit recipe came from the Joy of Cooking with two amendments: instead of shortening I use LARD (you know it, manteca, ummmm), and instead of milk I used buttermilk.   Lard is one of those guilty pleasures, it really does make a pie crust and a biscuit more crumbly, and if you don’t eat it every day you might live until your 65.  I’m willing to take the risk and I’m going to feed it to my baby too.   You will be pleased to know that the thought crossed our mind to fry the chicken in lard, but we did exercise some self-restraint.  I served roasted potato chips on the side.

Polenta, Chard and Yellow Tomatoes

Sometimes I run out of ideas and processing all the vegetables the CSA is bringing on becomes and arduous task.  In this case I baked up some polenta rounds and sauteed chard and yellow tomatoes in olive oil and garlic.  Once the vegetables were tender enough to consume, I layered it on top of the polenta rounds.  With a little cubed fresh mozzarella and a dusting of parmesan cheese it turned out to be an excellent and quick dinner and lunch the day after.  For not having a plan it turned out to be a very rewarding and visually appealing treat.