Buttermilk is not something that I cook with regularly, and for a long time I never cooked with it at all. I always thought it was really heavy, hence the name "butter"milk. But then I learned that it's not at all...it's just milk with vinegar added. The catch is at the store the smallest container I can find at the store is a quart, and I normally don't use it often enough to justify the purchase. And I use almond milk in my breakfast smoothie, and I'm really not sure how that would translate into buttermilk. So when I buy the quart, I plan ahead for 3-4 recipes over a couple of weeks before the milk goes bad. But then again, how do you know when it's bad when it's sour milk to begin with??
Of course, the recipe came from Pinterest. More specifically, from Pat & Gina Neely of The Food Network. I have to admit, their show wasn't one of my favorites. I liked a lot of their dishes, but they were so sugary sweet and lovey-dovey towards each other. I felt like I was stuck in a Harlequin romance novel, and it was way over the top. Come to find out that was all fake, and they got divorced about a year ago.
Here is the original recipe photo
Here is my first attempt.
As you can see, it looks nothing like the picture. But that's happened before. My thing is, as long as it tastes good, I'm okay with it. And this chicken was very good. I didn't have corn flakes as the recipe called for, so I used corn flake crumbs. But the crumbs are so fine that it doesn't really work well in this dish. I also followed the recommendation of a reviewer, cut the onion into big chunks, coated them in flakes and baked them along with the chicken. I did really like that flavor combination.
Last night I decided to make this chicken again because I had some buttermilk to use up. I also went to the store and bought actual Corn Flakes instead of just the packaged crumbs, and crushed them up in the food processor. I also left them in pretty good-sized pieces. The recipe calls for cooking the chicken on a wire rack so it won't get soggy underneath, and I did that as well
Here is my picture from last night
Looks so much better! Bigger chunks of corn flakes makes a huge difference, and you almost feel like you're eating fried chicken. I agree with a reviewer who said she was eating pieces of the cornflakes off the chicken first. This time the flakes were too big, but that's an easy fix, with just a few more pulses in the food processor.
The chicken was super tender and juicy. And the wire rack definitely prevented any sogginess. I need to remember that when I make Shake & Bake too. As I was eating I thought to myself, this is really good, but it was kind of bland and missing some "oomph"...and that wasn't the case the first time. That's when I realized I was so excited about the corn flakes that I completely forgot to add freshly grated parmesan and more fresh thyme into the corn flakes. I think it could use some garlic powder and onion powder as well.
Next time I make this I'll get the whole dish right. And I'll definitely be making this again soon.
Recipe courtesy of The Food Network
