Fried Chicken and Fresh Flavoured Butter

I'll bet you thought this post would be about chicken as well and it is but I wanted to share with you how to make fresh flavoured butters. I have more chicken recipes to share but now that the freezer and canning shelf are stocked, more chicken recipes will be coming as I make them.

Chive Butter

Flavoured butters are so easy to make! Most freeze nicely and can be used when cooking or for adding a little zip for vegetables. You can use fresh herbs or fruit to flavour the butter.

The method is the same. The equipment can be as simple as a mason jar with lid to fancier equipment like a Kitchen Aid® stand blender. I think I've used just about every piece of equipment out there. When the kids were young, the mason jar was a perfect get along game that tuckered them out.

What you will need:

2 c (500 ml) heavy whipping cream
1/4 c fresh chopped herbs
1/2 tsp sea salt (if desired)

For this batch I used the Kitchen Aid® stand blender and the whisk attachment set to 10 (high). The whipping cream thickens then will separate. Of all the methods the Kitchen Aid ® stand blender gives the drier end results. Once the butter is separated pour off the buttermilk and reserve. This is great used in soups, stews or baking. It freezes well so be sure to keep it. Taste the butter as this is what sweet butter should taste like. The butter then needs to be pressed. Take a spatula and press down on the butter releasing more butter milk. When pressing does not release any fluid the butter can be pressed into a mold as is, seasoned with sea salt or have fresh herbs or fruits stirred in then pressed into a mold. You can get really fancy and press into little candy molds, cool then release to impress your guests later too.

Note: Only add salt if you want salted butter, otherwise let the herbs shine through!

Some of our favourite combinations: lemon balm with lemon zest, a combination of citrus zest, thyme, rosemary, chives, cranberries and cranberries with citrus.

Fried Chicken

I fry chicken either on the stovetop or in a deep fryer. This particular batch was fried on the stovetop. I don't use any coatings for pan fried chicken. At most I might season a little either during the frying process or when draining. My secrets to crispy pan fried chicken are: a hot stainless steel pan with pre-heated peanut oil and cold chicken. The chicken is placed into the hot oil and allowed to fry until it moves freely from the pan with no sticking. A splatter screen helps to control any splatters. When the chicken moves freely, turn and fry on the other side. Then I remove the chicken from the pan and let drain on a paper towel lined rack before serving. The end result is mouth watering, lightly seasoned, juicy and crispy fried chicken.