Fried Chicken and Tater Biscuits

Is there anything that says Sunday dinner like fried chicken? I think not. Good fried chicken is one of my favorite meals. I know what you might be thinking….this girl has lost her mind…today is not Sunday. No I haven’t lost anything, I just won’t get the chance to have my fried chicken this Sunday because my son Aaron had a piece of his art work selected to be in the youth art show at Western Carolina University. The show is tomorrow and it begins too close to lunch. No one at my house minded one little bit that we had it tonight!

I soaked the chicken breasts all day in brine (kosher salt and water) and then I drained the water and skinned the chicken. Make sure to rinse and pat dry chicken before dipping in your choice of something for the flour to stick to. I had some leftover homemade ranch dressing so I chose to use it up before it went bad. Put some flour in a deep bowl and season with salt and pepper. Dip chicken breasts into ranch dressing and then dip into flour. Then fry on low until done. Flour tends to burn if you leave it on one side too long…turn often …after the chicken is almost done put a lid on it and let it finish cooking on low-bone side down.

I also had leftover mashed potatoes that I had served earlier in the week with meatloaf. These are the best to make potato pancakes with or as my mom has always called them tater biscuits. I used a little bacon grease on the griddle to cook them. As they cooked and the potatoes, onions and bacon dripping mixed together, I was taken to a different time long ago when I was a child in my granny Mills kitchen. She always cooked on a woodstove and everything tasted so good, so very good. The sense of smell is a powerful thing and can so quickly take you to a place you were not even thinking of prior to the scent that transported you. So for a little while tonight I was back in my Granny’s kitchen smelling wood smoke, bacon frying, biscuits baking and coffee brewing, and for a moment I had my Granny back.