food - buttermilk chicken the healthy way?

so nothing beats fried chicken that has been soaked in buttermilk. nothing!

except maybe this recipe for buttermilk roasted chicken.

i'm not sure how much healthier it is than the fried chicken, but since it is lacking the carbohydrate crust and doesn't get dunked in oil i would assume it is.

i was just poking around a new food blog i found (www.smittenkitchen.com) looking for a good valentine's day meal, when i came across this recipe. i couldn't use it for that occasion. (i was looking this up the morning of valentine's day, before heading to work.) but i thought i could make it the following night.

the recipe calls for a 8-24 hour soak and i went all the way. 24 hours (maybe more?) for my chicken. and holy crap! it does not disappoint! i was unable to get the fat to really crispen (got to wipe off that extra buttermilk!) but the meat was super-tender fall-off-the-bone! i made it extra delicious by using the full leg of chicken. oh that thigh meat!

served with an ear of corn (also roasted in the oven) and a small salad, it was like a summer picnic in february.