In the South, Fried Chicken isn't just a food, it's a way of life. Most every southerner you ask will tell you that it is one of the most common foods down here. Anyways, I was talking to a friend the other day, and we got to talkin' about what I was gonna cook for dinner. I knew I wanted fried chicken, so I got to lookin' online for a nice little recipe to make regular ol' southern fried chicken. I ended up finding 3 recipes that all sounded good, so I posed the question to my friend, "What KIND of fried chicken? Regular, Cajun or Ranch?" His answer sorta surprised me, although I'm not all that sure why. "Why don't you do all 3, together?" Hmmmm, yea I can do that. Especially seein' as though folks in the south have a penchant for spicy foods and ranch dressing as well as anything fried. When someone tells you, people in the south fry everything, they ain't lyin'. And what whether we fry it or not, we put ranch dressing on it. I'll post a recipe for fried pickles once I find one I like enough to eat. LOL.
I like to experiment with recipes and different kinds of foods. I don't have a lot of room in which to cook but that doesn't stop me from likin' to do it. So I got to haulin' out all the ingredients and ended up not really going by the recipes I had in my hand, but improvisin' my own concoction.
Pan Fried Cajun Ranch Chicken:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I rarely buy bone in chicken)
1 cup all purpose flour
1 Tbsp. cajun seasoning
1 Tbsp. ranch powder (Hidden Valley sells it in a shaker)
salt & pepper
paprika
cooking oil (I use Olive Oil)
Put about an 1 or 2 inches of oil in a skillet and let that be heating up while you get the chicken ready.
Combine the flour, cajun seasoning and ranch powder in a mixing bowl.
Sprinkle salt, pepper and paprika on both sides of each chicken breast, then dredge them in the flour mixture. Put the breasts in the oil (which by now should be hot).
Let each breast cook about 5 minutes on each side or until the juices run clear.
We had Candied Baby Carrots and Mashed Potatoes as side dishes. The carrots are super easy to do.
Candied Baby Carrots:fresh baby carrots
2 large spoonfuls of butter (sorry I rarely measure butter)
1/4 cup brown sugar
salt & pepper
Boil your carrots in salted in salted water for about 20 -30 minutes. You don't want them mushy. After you've boiled them strain out the water and let them sit off to the side.
