Fried Chicken, Herbed Mashed Potatoes and Beet Salad with Chimichurri. Dinner for 5.

Do you know how good fresh beets are? They are so great, so pretty, so good for you and so unique tasting. I've been making this beet salad over and over for the last few weeks. I recently had a dinner party for 4 of my favorite people and wanted to share it with them. The rest of the menu, well, it's starch and fried stuff. Just cuz.

It was a Sunday night, a work night for me, so I wanted the menu to be attainable and not crazy - meaning I  wouldn't have to do any work the day before and I could have the whole thing on the table in 2 hours or so.

Ingredients

Fried Chicken
Five legs and five thighs
2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup salt, divided
1 1/2 cup flour
2 tsp pepper
1 tsp cayenne
1 Tbs baking powder
Corn oil

Herbed Mashed Potatoes
5 large russet potatoes
1 cup loosely packed italian parsley
5 or 6+ sprigs of dill, to taste
1/2 stick butter
Splash of milk
Small handful shredded parmesan
Salt and pepper to taste

Beet Salad
5 fresh medium beets
1 red bell pepper
1/2+ cup loosely packed cilantro
Lime
Salt, pepper, olive oil to taste

Chimichurri 
1 small shallot
1 Tsp minced parsley
Red wine vinegar
Olive oil, salt, pepper

Implements
Gallon zip lock bag, or other container for marinating the chicken
Large skillet for frying the chicken
Large pot for boiling the beets, and then the potatoes
Colander
Large mixing bowl
Small mixing bowl

Let's do this thing.

Place the chicken in the zip lock bag along with half the salt and the 2 cups of buttermilk. Mix it around and marinate for at least 2 hours, or as much as overnight.

Marinating Chicken

Pile o vegetables, lookin pretty 

Purple mountain majesty beets. MY COUNTRY TIS OF THEE....wait, what were we doing again?

Put on water to boil, enough to cover the beets. Remove the stems, peel and chop them into 1/2 inch slices. Boil for about 40 minutes, until they are easily pierced with a fork, but still offer a bit of resistance.

While the beets boil and the chicken continues to marinate, prepare the potatoes. Peel and slice them into 3 or 4 chunks each, set them aside. Finely mince the parsley and dill, set it aside.

We are both named Herb

Dice the shallot and parsley for the chimichurri and mix in a small bowl. Add a splash of olive oil and vinegar, salt and pepper to taste. Set it aside. Done with chimichurri!

I like NASCAR he's a jerk. Gaffigan? Anyone? Oh, this here is Chimichurri

Oh look, wine, nibbly things and table settings. Oh my? (Yes, Wizard of Oz reference, don't judge me.) I lied before, I did do some things the day before, like shopping and setting up this stuff.

The very nice wine lady was happy to help me pick out this Rose so she could get away from a fawning bag person employee type who smelled a little like farts. Also, nibblies*! Napkin folding! YES. *Side note confession, that nibble meat there is pastrami from Whole Foods and was way way way WAY over seasoned. So I fed it my guests to use it up, HA HA HA I MEAN LOVE YOU GUYS, FOR REAL!!

Prepare the skillet for frying the chicken. Pour enough corn oil to come about a half inch up the sides of the skillet and set to low heat to begin warming. Now prepare the coating for the chicken. In a large doubled paper grocery bag, mix the flour, pepper, cayenne, baking powder and remaining salt. Combine well with your fingers. Drain the marinade from the chicken and throw all the pieces together into the coating bag. Seal it up and shake it around like crazy.

Has it been about 40 minutes? Check the beets, they should be about ready. Drain them. Give that same pot a  rinse, refill with water and set it to boil for the potatoes. Go ahead and add the potatoes to the cold water, they don't mind. Once boiling, it'll take about 15 minutes for them to become tender.

Once the beets are cool enough to handle, cut them into 1/2 cubes. Chop the cilantro, dice the red pepper and mix it together with the beets, juice from the lime to taste, olive oil, salt and pepper. Done with salad!

Red and green items, seasoned and about to be mixed

Turn up the heat in the skillet with oil to bring the temperature of the oil to about 375. Or, if you don't have a thermometer, toss in a little cube of bread. If it sizzles and then browns in about 10 seconds, you're good to go.

What about those potatoes? They're probably about done, poke them with a fork to see if they're nice and tender. They shouldn't give much resistance at all. Rise the beet-y colander and drain the potatoes, then add them back to the warm pot back on the stove. Mix in the butter, milk, herbs, parmesan and lots of salt and pepper. They should be soft enough to mix n' mash up with a fork. Done with potatoes!

To fry the chicken, shake off the excess coating as you remove the piece from the coating bag and into the oil. Add all the pieces to the oil in a single layer. Fry without turning for 14 minutes, then flip and fry for an additional 14 minutes. The should read about 170 to 180 degrees when done. Set the pieces on a rack or paper towells to drain.

Hot grease chicken hot tub

Done with chicken! Done with everything!

I like to plate things snug together. Put a mound of potatoes and stack chicen pieces right up close. Add of spoon of beet salad and top it with just a touch of the chimichurri.

Salt and Pepper Baby Back Ribs and Lightly Creamed Spinach, for 1

I never used to think of baby back ribs as anything other than giant slabs of meat smothered in barbeque sauce that’s two-thirds high fructose corn syrup, cooked by a stranger and begrudgingly delivered by someone at any number of chain restaurants. Complete with greasy sheen and wet naps. 

But, you know what? Ribs are pretty cheap when you’re cooking just for yourself and they don’t even need barbeque sauce. As it turns out, they require much less supervision than a steak and they’re a delicious treat for the weekend. Since they do take time, I like planning just such a treat for myself for a Saturday or Sunday dinner.

I’ve seen ribs on sale all over recently, usually for as little $2.99 a pound. Plus, any grocery store with a meat counter (even Safeway, QFC, Albertsons, Walmart, etc.) will cut a slab of ribs into smaller pieces, you just have to ask. It’s the perfect way to buy only as much as you need. I ask for a third of a rack which works out to about four ribs and rings up at less than $4.00.

This Saturday evening I paired the ribs with some very lightly creamed spinach. I always love to say that eating an entire bunch of spinach by yourself is almost as good as working out.

Salt and Pepper Ribs:

1/3 rack baby back pork ribs

Salt and Pepper

Lightly Creamed Spinach:

1 bunch spinach

1 shallot

2 or 3 sprigs of thyme (or not)

1 clove garlic

2 tablespoons heavy cream

2 tablespoons shredded parmesan or other salty cheese

Olive oil, salt, pepper

Implements:

Small baking dish

Large skillet

Foil

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line your baking dish with foil and lay in the ribs. Season the heck out of those babies on both sides with salt and pepper. Cover them tightly with more foil and pop in the oven for an hour and a half.

When an hour and a half is up, uncover them and turn the heat down to 300 degrees. Cook for another hour.

During this phase of cooking, get to cleaning and trimming your spinach and dice the shallot and garlic. Set these aside.

When the ribs complete their final hour, crank up the heat to 475 for about 15 minutes to develop some more color. Take them out of the oven and let them rest while you tend to the spinach.

Cook the shallot in some olive oil using your skillet over medium heat until soft, 4 minutes or so. Add the garlic, give it a stir and add the spinach right away. Sprinkle over some salt and pepper and move it around the pan until it wilts down, but maintains a bright green color, another 4 minutes or so. Remove it from the heat and mix in the cream and cheese.

Slice the ribs. Pile your spinach onto a plate and lay the ribs around. Get napkins. Lots of napkins, and yum!

Blueberry Ricotta Muffins, Breakfast for 1

Blueberry Ricotta Muffins
Makes six muffins

Wet Ingredients:
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1 egg
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Zest from ½ a lime

Dry Ingredients:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons chia seeds
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup blueberries

Implements:
2 medium bowls
Standard size 6 muffin tin
Whisk
Spatula
Dry measuring cups
Liquid measuring cup
Measuring spoons

Recipe my own invention.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Combine and whisk the wet ingredients in one of your bowls, and dry in the other, leaving out the berries for now. The chia seeds may be omitted, but I really like them and they look just like poppy seeds in this recipe. They’re flavor neutral and packed with fiber and omega-3s. I found mine at Whole Foods; just over $6.00 for enough chia seeds to last a lifetime. The baking soda can be substituted by tripling the baking powder.

Wet. Dry. WHOA CHIA SEED CLOSE UP.

Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and use a spatula to fold everything together a bit. Pour in the berries and fold some more until all the dry ingredients are incorporated. The dough will be gooey and thick.

Prepare your muffin tin by buttering, oiling, or lining with paper muffin cups. Using your hands, distribute the dough evenly among the cups. Bake for 20 minutes. Set to cool for about five minutes, then turn out and cool completely at room temperature. Eat one. Save the rest in plastic, in the fridge. Voila, breakfast for the whole week. I admit to even eating mine in the car, hardly any crumbs!