Buttermilk Chicken

I am super excited for tomorrow night because my fiance and I are going on a fancy date to celebrate the new year and all the goals we are going to accomplish in 2016.  We are going to Lincoln which is a restaurant I've been dying to go to for years now.  The chef and co-owner Jenn Louis is pretty famous in the food world being voted best new chef by Food & Wine magazine in 2012, being a semi-finalist in the James Beard Foundation's "best new chef", and she wrote her first cookbook Pasta by Hand which and been wildly successful.  There is much more to say about her qualifications but I will let you do your own research on that.  She recently traveled to Jerusalem and her dishes at the restaurant have been influenced by that a lot even though the menu definitely leans toward Italian.  I find it funny because Italian food is a cuisine I don't seek out as often as let's say French but I think I am in for a real treat tomorrow night.  This date will be the one cheat this month during our cleanse month where I will be eating whatever I feel like (still no drinking though).  I feel like we are off to a strong start with the cleanse month, lots of working out, eating very healthy (currently drinking my spinach smoothie for lunch), and drinking lots and lots of kombucha.  Anyway onto this delicious buttermilk chicken recipe that I adapted and paired with vinegar braised broccoli.

Serves 4

The Ingredients
4 chicken thighs, bone-in
1 1/2cups buttermilk
1/2 cup almond flour
1/4 cup butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 (10 ounce) can cream of mushroom soup (gluten free)
Fresh parsley for garnish


The Process
1.  Preheat oven to 425F.

2.  Melt butter in a 9x13 inch pan.

3.  Place ½ cup of the buttermilk onto a shallow dish, set aside the rest.

4.  In another shallow dish, mix together the almond flour, salt and two kinds of pepper.

5.  Dip chicken in the buttermilk and then dredge the chicken into the almond flour mixture.  Place the dredged chicken in the prepared pan.

6.  Bake uncovered for 30 minutes.  Turn the chicken over and bake for 15 minutes more.

7.  Combine the remaining 1 cup of buttermilk and the cream of mushroom soup.  Pour over chicken and bake for an additional 15 minutes.

8.  Transfer the chicken onto a serving platter and garnish with parsley.

9.  Stir the gravy up real well and then transfer to a gravy boat or other serving dish.