Recipes: Fried Chicken and Potato Salad

Photo by Kate Andersen

This is one of my favorite comfort meals. The potato salad recipe is from my grandmother on my mother's side.

Potato Salad

Time: Somewhere around 30-35 minutes

Makes about 4 servings (easy to increase or decrease as necessary)

• 4 medium potatoes
    • 2-3 stalks of celery
    • 1 bunch of scallions
    • 1 large green bell pepper
    • 3 cloves of garlic
    • Mayonnaise and/or Greek yogurt to taste
    • Celery seed
    • Paprika
    • Salt
    • Pepper

Peel and dice the potatoes into small cubes--something like half an inch, but the size is less important than personal preferences--and put in boiling water, for about 5 minutes.

While the potato cubes are boiling, dice the celery and pepper, slice the scallions (you can use the green and white parts), and mince the garlic.

By the time you're done preparing the vegetables, the potatoes should be nearly done. They should be soft and easy to chew, but not so cooked that they fall apart or squish easily (or else instead of potato salad you'd have mashed potatoes with mayonnaise and vegetables). Set the cubes in a colander and drain for a bit, just to remove some of the water.

When the potatoes have cooled off some and are slightly drier, mix into a large bowl with all the vegetables, and then add the mayo and yogurt to taste (more yogurt to mayo obviously being the healthier option, though with somewhat less of the salty/smooth texture that the mayo provides).

Again to taste, add the celery seed, salt, pepper, and paprika, and stir. When the consistency and flavorings are to your liking, store in the fridge until serving time.

Note: It's also possible to add ingredients like hard boiled eggs or pickles diced up, nuts, onions, etc. It's a hard dish to ruin.

Fried Chicken

Time: Somewhere around 30-35 minutes

Makes about 4 servings (easy to increase or decrease as necessary)

• 2 chicken breasts
    • 2 eggs
    • Flour
    • Panko (or breadcrumbs, or crushed cereal - whatever you have on hand)
    • Salt
    • Pepper
    • Sesame seeds
    • Cayenne

Wash and pat dry the chicken breasts, and cut them up into medium sized chunks.

Crack the eggs into one bowl (either with or without the yolks, depending on your preferences). Put about half a cup of flour into another small bowl, and add salt and pepper. In a third small bowl, add the panko, salt, pepper, cayenne, and sesame seeds (as much as you want, again depending on your personal preferences).

Dip the pieces of the chicken breast into the flour, pat off the excess, dip in the egg and again let the excess drip off, and then coat them in the panko mixture. Repeat until all the chicken has been coated.

Heat up about half an inch of vegetable oil in a pan to a medium-high temperature, and proceed to fry the chicken. Don't put too many pieces in at once, or it can make the frying inconsistent, and make sure to watch them carefully, turning them over once one side is a dark golden brown color.

When the chicken is done, lay on paper towels to drain the excess grease, and serve immediately.

Note: The panko mixture can have anything small enough added too it. Sometimes we've used shredded Parmesan, garlic or onion powder, or other spices. I also mix together spicy mustard with a little bit of mayonnaise as a dip for the chicken, but any sort of typical dipping sauce (barbecue, etc.) would work well.