Homemade Fried Chicken

Sometimes you just get the craving for fried chicken, and not the drive-through kind. After doing some reading on the subject matter, I threw together a simple enough flour mixture, though I admit there was a second try for some tweaking. Serve it with some mashed potatoes or biscuits, and one obligatory healthy side, and you're in heaven.

One other note: a thermometer is necessary. It takes longer than you'd think to get the oil up to temperature, and the oil needs to be hot enough and the chicken cooked long enough to get the perfect browning outside and doneness inside. A candy thermometer works great for this. I also have a deep fryer, but I find I like my enameled cast iron dutch oven better.

• About 9 chicken thighs, wings, and drumsticks
  
• 1 cup buttermilk or 1 egg plus 1 cup milk
  
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
  
• 1 tbs baking powder
  
• 1 tsp salt
  
• 1 tsp black pepper
  
• ½ tsp ground cayenne pepper
  
• Enough oil to fill half of a large dutch oven

1. Start heating your oil to 360º (the temperature will drop to about 350º when you add the chicken, which is where you want to keep the temp). It may take more than 10 minutes to heat up.
2. Trim the skin off the drumsticks and thighs, if you'd like. Place all the chicken in a bowl filled with the buttermilk, or the egg and milk. In a shallow bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, and peppers. Dredge the chicken pieces through the flour mixture and set aside.
3. When the oil comes to temperature, add your chicken pieces. Don't overcrowd the pot or they won't cook evenly; 4-5 pieces at a time is best. Cook the chicken for about 13 minutes, turning the pieces halfway through the cooking time with a handheld brass strainer like the one in the picture. The chicken should be about the color in the photo. Drain the chicken on paper towels and pat dry, and serve.

Cheese Ravioli from Scratch

Joe's the pasta-maker in our house (and pizza, and bread most of the time). But I'm good at filling and cutting the ravioli. We make a great team! These are tasty on a bed of sauce with more Parmesan grated on top while the ravioli are still hot so the cheese melts just slightly.

What we used for the filling:
1/3 cup ricotta
1/3 cup shredded mozzarella
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
3 tbs. dried oregano (fresh, if you have it)
2 tbs. dried basil (ditto)
1 tbs. salt
1 tbs. black pepper
Stir together and set aside. Play with the filling, adding other cheeses, herbs, or seasonings.

Joe's pasta ingredient list is simple:
3/4 cup semolina
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbs olive oil
1 tbs water (more, if needed)

He whizzes them all together in a food processor (knead by hand if you don't have one) just until the dough comes together in a ball. The dough shouldn't be sticky, and if the sides are frayed when you're cranking it out, your dough is probably too dry. He then divides the dough in half and flattens each half into a rectangle.

Then he folds the dough in thirds like a letter, as pictured, and runs it through the pasta machine. (Why he prefers a hand crank instead of a stand mixer attachment, I don't know.) Run the dough through the crank starting on setting 1, and each time gradually work your way up to setting 7.

The dough will be thin like this.

My rolling mat is great because it has a grid and measurements in inches and centimeters. Cut your dough (my pastry cutter makes these pretty scalloped edges) into long strips. Throw some flour under the strips to keep them from sticking to your mat.

Scoop 1/2 tsp of filling in the center of each square (mine were about 2 square inches each), taking care not to overfill them. Lay another strip on top.

Using a wooden bamoo skewer, go between the lumps of filling, and press down and roll around to push out the air and seal the pasta.

Do the same at the top and bottom, pressing down and rolling in toward the filling and back out to the edge.

Cut up your squares. You can also use a round cookie cutter to make circular ravioli instead.

Boil them for 3 to 4 minutes, and fish them out with a strainer. They'll float to the top. Happy eatins'!