Subscriber OnlyRecipes

Nashville fried chicken with home-made pickles

Serves: 4
Course: Dinner
Cooking Time: 15 mins
Prep Time: 15 mins
Ingredients
  • 1 large cucumber
  • 2 cloves garlic, sliced
  • 1 tbsp mustard seeds
  • 1 tbsp black peppercorns
  • Handful dill
  • 200ml water
  • 150ml white wine vinegar
  • 70g caster sugar
  • Large pinch of sea salt
  • 4 chicken breasts
  • 200g plain flour
  • 2 tbsp sea salt
  • 1 tbsp ground black pepper
  • 1 tbsp garlic powder
  • 1 tbsp ground coriander
  • 1 tbsp sweet paprika
  • 100ml vegetable oil
  • For the butter:
  • 40g butter
  • 1 tbsp smoked paprika
  • 1 tbsp cayenne pepper
  • 1 tbsp garlic powder
  • Sea salt
  • Sliced of batch bread
  1. To make the home-made pickles, slice the cucumber and place in a large 500ml mason jar. Add the garlic, mustard seeds and black peppercorns to the jar along with 2-3 sprigs of fresh dill. To a saucepan, add the water, vinegar, sugar and salt and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved, then remove from the heat. Pour the mix into the jar until it covers the cucumber slices. Allow to cool before putting the lid on.
  2. Slice the chicken breasts horizontally into thin cutlets, about 1cm thick. Mix the plain flour, sea salt, black pepper, garlic powder, ground coriander and sweet paprika in a large bowl. Toss the chicken cutlets in the flour mixture and shake off and reserve any excess, then set the chicken aside in the fridge for an hour to create a glue-like coating.
  3. Remove the chicken from the fridge and recoat it in the flour mix. Heat the oil in a non-stick pan until it sizzles when you add a pinch of flour. Carefully add the chicken cutlets and cook gently for 3-4 minutes on each side until cooked through, golden brown and crispy. (To check the temperature, insert a metal skewer into the thickest part, then remove; it should be hot to touch)
  4. Heat a small saucepan and add the butter and melt it, before adding the smoked paprika, cayenne pepper, garlic powder and sea salt. Stir before removing from the heat.
  5. To serve, place the chicken cutlets on to a slice of batch bread. Spoon some of the spiced butter over the chicken and finish with a few slices of the home-made pickles.
Mark Moriarty

Mark Moriarty

Mark Moriarty is an award winning chef, TV host, author and Irish Times columnist.