And yet another recipe from Five Points Brunch book that I've been going crazy over. There is one more recipe from the book coming soon and I think I may move on to some other meals, but then again, brunch lover that I am, I might just continue with all 100 brunch recipes. And I get to use all this buttermilk that I mentioned not too long ago.

I've never made fried chicken so this is the closest I've come. I lived in the south for a few years and never mastered the art of southern cooking, but i wasn't really trying either. I think it helps to have grown up there, to have had a mom or grandma show you the ropes. Are any of you from the south? What is your secret? What I do know is that while I lived in the south I had the very best fried chicken everywhere I went, it was just always great. And the only fried chicken that could rival that was from The Redhead in New York City. That was incredible, just amazing, if you're in NYC you have to go there, and they have bacon peanut brittles that you can buy by the jar that are just heavenly. So this pan-fried chicken is very good, but nothing compared to almost anywhere in the south or The Redhead. Oh, and I just had fried chicken at Fish & Farm downtown recently, meh, good but not great. This may sound like a lot of fried chicken consumption, but honestly I might have it once or twice a year at most, I just appreciate when it's made to perfection.

The original recipe called for a red cabbage slaw, and seeing that I have no cabbage on hand today I improvised a bit. You cannot go wrong with bacon and avocado on a chicken sandwich. This much I know. And it was very tasty.

You can make the bacon however you like, but I prefer to bake it so I added the directions just in case you've never cooked it this way, my sister recommended it a few years ago and I always bake bacon ever since. It's less messy and comes out perfect. And it helps with the multi-tasking when you have a few things on the stovetop.

Photo note: I used a 50mm lens here, I didn't get too much variety in the shots because, um, I was starving and it was torture, it's like going to the grocery store hungry, never a good idea, same goes for food photography!

I hope "ya'll" enjoy this! Recipe below.

Pan Fried Chicken Sandwich With Avocado Mash + Bacon
(Adapted from Brunch 100 Recipes from Five Points Restaurant)

1 cup buttermilk
Pinch of ground cinnamon
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon black pepper + more to taste
2 boneless chicken breasts, skin-on, split*
1 cup flour
1 cup grape seed, corn, canola or other neutral oil
1 avocado
1 medium tomato
4 strips of thick-cut bacon
4 sandwich buns

* I used skinless chicken breast, which is probably a big no no, I'm sure the skin adds a lot of flavor

To bake the bacon
Place bacon strips in baking dish that has sufficient rim (so you don't spill grease in oven), place it in a cold oven, heat oven to 375* and bake for 30-35 minutes (less time for thin strips, about 20 minutes), checking after 30 minutes, baked until crisped.

Pan Fried Chicken
In small bowl whisk together the buttermilk, cinnamon, honey and mustard with 2 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon black pepper. Pour into shallow dish. Add the chicken and coat well, cover and marinate the chicken at least 3 hours, or as long as overnight in the refrigerator.

Put the flour in a wide, shallow dish and season with salt and pepper. Remove the chicken from the marinade, letting it drain for a second or two after you pull it from the dish, then dredge each piece in the seasoned flour.

Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a skillet or sauté pan large enough to accommodate the chicken without crowding. Let the oil heat for a full minute, then add the chicken. Cook it for 6-7 minutes a side until golden brown. Turn the heat down to medium after you flip the meat. Meanwhile toast the buns.

Avocado Mash
Cut the tomato into 1/2 cubes, scoop out the avocado into small bowl, with a fork give it a rough mash, keeping it a bit chunky, toss in the tomato cubes lightly. You can mash this more if you like, but I always like my guacamole and avocado mash with chunks of avocado intact.

Place chicken on bun, topping with bacon and avocado mash.