This is the chicken you imagine bringing on a picnic. You know the picnic... the one where you gather all the appropriate utensils and and a blanket (preferably a red plaid one), and you place them ever so lovingly in an oversize wicker basket. Then you gather a couple other food items, maybe a crisp green salad, a rustic looking stone fruit tart, and a bottle of wine, a chilled rosé if possible. You head to a ridiculously scenic location with an ocean view and wildflower blossoms surrounding you, of course.
But... you never actually go on that picnic. It isn't because you don't like picnics in theory. You just don't like picnics in practice. You realize that the chicken will probably be cold and the salad wilted. That scenic location is actually a public park, so you can't bring that bottle of wine. I mean, i guess you could bring a flask, but that is a bit less romantic. And you remember the ants and other assorted bugs creeping around the food and blanket. So instead, you eat the chicken in the comfort of your own home, warm and crispy, fresh out of the oven, on clean plates with your glass of rosé, and imagine the original, umblemished version of that picnic at the beach.
Ingredients
6 chicken drumsticks
1-2 cups buttermilk
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/3 cup chopped sage leaves
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
pie pan or 8x8 baking dish
Instructions
Place the chicken in a ziplock bag and pour enough buttermilk over the pieces so that they are coated. Let the chicken marinate in the buttermilk overnight. Heat oven to 450. Pour melted butter in the baking dish. In a shallow bowl, mix together the flour, salt, pepper, and sage leaves. Take each chicken drumstick and coat generously in the flour mixture. Place in the baking dish and repeat for each drumstick. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the bottom side is nice and crispy. Flip and continue cooking for 10-15 minutes, until the other side is browned as well.
