Chicken marinated in Buttermilk and Basil with Bacon and Asparagus (Christine Restivo Mulvania)

This recipe is super good.  It's a nice way to make chicken interesting and using buttermilk as a marinade is great because it helps keep all the juices in so you won't be serving up any dry chicken with this.  You can use any cut of chicken that you'd like.  I like to make it with a mix of chicken wings, thighs, and drumsticks. The sweet and savory marinade makes for some very tasty skin on the chicken too.  This can be cooked either on the grill or in the oven on broil.  Plus asparagus and bacon were like practically made for each other.  Best vegetable side dish ever.  Serves about 4-5 people.

Need: about 8-10 pieces of chicken ( drumsticks, wings, and thighs), 2 cups of buttermilk, 2 cloves of chopped garlic, 2 tablespoons of fresh chopped basil, 1 tsp. fresh ground pepper, 1 tsp. salt, 1 bunch of asparagus, 3 slices of bacon.

Directions:  Place the chicken in a large Ziploc bag.  If all the pieces don't fit, divide into 2 bags but be sure to divide your marinade ingredients evenly in both bags.  Add the buttermilk, chopped garlic, chopped basil, salt and pepper to the Ziploc bag.  Toss and evenly coat the chicken.  Place in the refrigerator and allow to sit for about 30 minutes.  After they have marinaded for a bit, place in an oven safe dish and broil or place on the grill.  I usually cook the chicken for about 30 minutes or so (15 min on each side) depending on the size of the pieces.  When the chicken is done, you will notice that some of the skin will have turned a nice golden brown and when cut into the juices will run clear.

For the asparagus-Cook the bacon slices in a frying pan.  When they are done remove and place on a plate with a paper towel.  Add the asparagus to that same pan and saute in the bacon grease for a few minutes until they are a bright green and tender.  Chop up the bacon slices, toss with the asparagus in the pan.  Remove and serve.