I enjoy cooking, my kitchen is a laboratory. Yes, I'll follow a recipe but then if I find it lacking, I'll adjust it to my own tastes. These are some of my experiments...
GOLDEN, BROWN, DELICIOUS, CRISPY CHICKEN HUNKS:
This is going to take at least 2 hours (marinade and prep/cooking time - good things are worth the wait!).
Get some ingredients, I suggest the following:
A chicken breast; de-gunk it - remove the fat and various extraneous gunk (veins, tendons, gross stuff). 1 chicken breast will yeild 7-8 pieces.
A box of Panko bread crumbs - I have no idea how much is used (it won't be the entire box). I strongly suggest using only Panko type bread crumbs, not that other shit that comes in a cardboard tube/box thingy. If you make your own bread crumbs from French or Italian bread, (or lightly) crushed croutons dat's alright just don't pulverize them down to powder. - put them in a pie tin or other low sided vessel.
Marinade/brine:
2-ish* tbsp lemon juice with some zest
2-ish* tbsp Guayamaca hot sauce (or whatever is on hand - Guayamaca is favored and treasured in my kitchen)
1-ish* tbsp pickle brine (I have kosher pickles which includes garlic)
1-ish* tbsp olive brine (not black olive from a can, the good stuff from the olive bar at the store - or the stuff from jarred olives)
A little salt (or not - the pickle and olive brines have a lot of salt - plus more salt can be added later).
(*ish is approximate - guess on the heavy side of the measure)
Egg Wash:
1 large egg
1-2 tbsp flavorful liquid (this evening I included some of my vodka sodie - however, water will work, as will beer)
Combine the 2 indredients well - whisk the shit out of them - we're looking for bubbles - not a ton of bubbles, just enough to let us know we've incorporated the 2 indredients well.
Corn Starch - roughly 1/4c. in a pie tin or other low sided vessel.
Paper towels (they're not an ingredient, but a tool that will come in handy later)
Now... on to the fun parts -
Cut the tender off the chicken breast. If you don't know what a chicken tender is, Google it. Cut, against the grain, the rest of the breast into 1" thick 'steaks' - the goal is to attain 1" (ish) thick hunks of chicken breast. Cut the tender in half.
We're going to marinade/brine this boob for at least an hour or up to 48. 48 hours will yield the most tender, juicy, flavorful chicken hunks ever - in my experience.
M'kay... combine the marinade/brine ingredients into a glass, or glazed ceramic, vessel (there's quite a bit of acid in this marinade/brine so we don't need any reaction funny business with metals or plastics) add to the marinade/brine the hunks of chicken, cover with plastic wrap. By 'cover' I mean to press the plastic wrap directly onto the marinading/brining chicken and work out as many air bubbles as possible... press the plastic wrap up against the sides of the container and try to get the best seal possible.
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| (hunks of chicken in marinade, covered with plastic wrap) |
Put this into the fridge for at least an hour. In the mean time, go do other stuff. I play with my dogs, water the plants, do chores, fart around on the intertubes... just wait an hour, AT LEAST!
After AT LEAST an hour, remove the plastic wrap and place each piece of chicken onto a baking rack to drain and dry out a bit. Discard the marinade/brine (or make a sauce - I've made sauces from marinade/brine before - not going to explain how at this moment).
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| (hunks of marinaded chicken, draining on rack - with paper towels underneath) |
Let the chicken hunks sit for about 5 minutes then dredge in corn starch, making sure to shake off as much excess starch as possible. Let the chicken hunks sit for another 5 minutes.
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| (hunks of marinaded chicken, drained, dredged through corn starch) |
Drag the chicken hunks through egg wash and plop into panko bread crumbs, roll round and press into the panko to achieve uniform coverage and make sure to shake off any excess.
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| (from upper left to lower right - hunks of chicken on a plate, egg wash in pie tin, bread crumbs in pie tin, clean rack for breaded chicken and tongs) |
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| (hunks of marinaded chicken, drained, dredged through corn starch, dragged through egg wash and plopped into bread crumbs - pondering their fate) |
Get a decent sized (12"-ish) skillet, doesn't matter what kind, preheat it to medium/medium-high and add roughly 1.5 tbsp olive oil and 1.5 tbsp canola/vegetable oil (something with a high smoke point).
1. When the oil starts to shimmer gently place 2-3 hunks of nicely breaded chicken into the hot oil.
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| (hunks of breaded chicken, in shimmering hot oil) |
2. Wait 2-3 minutes - or until the chicken hunk is golden brown and delicious on the bottom (you're just going to have to peek from time to time). Flip the chicken over and cook for another 2-3 minutes. (Flip the chicken ONCE and once only - take a couple peeks before flipping the chicken over to make sure you've achieved the golden brown delicious color you like, don't flip the chicken over and over again - it'll absorb all the oil in the pan and be greasy gross nastiness that no one will want to eat.)
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| (hunks of breaded chicken, in shimmering hot oil, flipped once - a lovely golden brown coat) |
4. Get 2-3 paper towels, bunch them up and grab them with some tongs. Dump the used oil into something heat proof and swipe the skillet clean of lingering bread crumbs - add more oil and repeat steps 1-4 listed above until all the chicken is golden brown and delicious and resting comfortably in your oven.
I leave the fried chicken in the oven for 20-ish minutes and let everything cook through thoroughly. Keep in mind your oven's hot spots and rotate the landing area so that the 1st batch of chicken hunks are moved away from the hot spot as the 2nd/3rd batches are added to the landing area.
After 20-ish minutes, take out the chicken, let it sit for a few minutes to cool off.
(finis)
Enjoy while I swab the drool from my keyboard!
SALMON EN PAPILLOT:
1 lb.-ish salmon fillet (de-boned, skin on)
1/2 LARGE shalot bulb - sliced wafer thin
1 LARGE garlic clove - sliced wafer thin
1/2 c. flavorful liquid (I use beer - lager type* - vodka works and I'm sure broths or stocks of various types will too)
1 1/2 - 2 tbsp. lemon juice (freshly squoze)
1 tsp. lemon zest
1/2 - 1 tsp. dried dill (fresh is best)
1/4 - 1/2 tsp. dried chili flakes'
a dozen or so flat parsley leaves - sliced thinly
salt of the kosher type
A cooking rack contraption - by that I mean a metal sheet pan type thing (i.e. cookie sheet perhaps, something with sides) on top of which a metal cooking rack type thing is placed (i.e. metal cooling/baking rack).
I was inspired by Mr. Brown - Alton Brown and his Salmon en Papillot recipe, but I do not follow it precisely as I use my toaster oven in lieu of a microwave and the ingredients are slightly different - the results will be the same - delicious salmon - c'est une inspiration, n'est pas? Moving on... gather yo shit and let's go.
Pre-heat your oven/toaster oven (on convection setting if you have it) to 275°.
Into a glass container pour the flavorful liquid, add to it the wafer thinly sliced shallots and garlic, lemon juice, zest, dried dill, parsley and chili flakes. Stir it about and let it sit for a while. I'm sure "the longer, the better", however I have no idea how long my concoction has been sitting so we'll just say "a while".
Pour on the flavorful liquid.
Fold the parchment paper lengthwise (the knife is there just to hold the folded parchment) then widthwise - see images as I have no idea at this moment how to describe what I did. Secure with a toothpick.
There's going to be some run off of the flavorful liquid concoction, leave it. Pick up your Salmon en Papillot, put the metal cooking rack type thing onto the cooking sheet/pan type thing then carefully place the Salmon en Papillot onto the rack and chuck it into the oven.(image on right side, above)
Wait... for 30 minutes. YES!!! 30 minutes. I like my cooked fish dishes to be COOKED - if I want raw fish I'll go to my favorite sushi joint. This salmon is going to be cooked - but the best cooked fish EVAR!!!!!!!!!!! It won't be dry or over cooked. Just wait and your patience will be rewarded.
Mmmmm... salmon
KALE CHIPS:
Ingredients:
1 bunch of kale (green or red)
Olive oil/bacon grease
Salt
Grated (white) cheese (parmesan, grana padano, etc.)
30-ish minutes of your day
(finished chips)
Find some kind of baking vessel with short sides, like a cookie sheet or broiler pan - a roasting pan will do... not ideal (because it holds in too much moisture), but it'll work. My conclusion: broiler pan is best.
Get a bunch of kale, chuck it into a salad spinner that's full of cold/cool water and let it soak for a while. A while is relative - just make sure the kale is clean.
(glamour shot of soaking kale)
Spin the kale in the salad spinner until it's dry-ish... a little water left on the leaves is good. A LITTLE!
(clean, dry kale on baking pan)
Turn your oven on to 300°F and put the kale into the oven, set the timer for 10 minutes. Pre-heating is not necessary and not recommended. This first wave of gradual heat building is good and dries the kale slowly - helping to maintain the green color of the chips. (I know whereof I speak having had my fair share of 'cajun' style kale chips in the past few weeks - fast and well done is no bueno.)
(after 1st 10 minutes)
After the 1st 10 minutes of cooking, remove the kale from the oven, add a little more bacon grease/olive oil and season with a very tiny pinch of salt, distribute well. Toss around using tongs, your hands, whatever. Just make sure the kale that is near the outer edges of the baking vessel is moved to the center area of the baking vessel and vice versa and that the kale is coated evenly with grease/oil and salt.
Put the baking vessel back into the oven for another 10 minutes. Distract yourself for 10 minutes but no so much so that you don't hear the timer - set a timer for Jeebus sakes.
When the 2nd round of 10 minutes is up, take the kale out of the oven and toss again, this time add a little more bacon grease or olive oil and season with another light sprinkling of salt. I use sea salt - not course, just a nice fine salt (something not as course as kosher). This would also be a good time to add garlic powder or any other seasoning like onion powder, chili powder, even cheese (a light sprinkling of parmesan, romano, grana padano - something dry, salty and course that doesn't melt quickly - whatever suits your fancy as long as it's in powder-ish form - don't go nuts with it though, as there's a 3rd round of baking involved.) When your chips have been well tossed and are nicely coated with the additional grease, salt and seasoning, put it back into the oven for another 10 minutes. Go do something, I recommend playing with pets.
After the last 10 minutes of baking... it gets tricky. Depending on the amount of kale and it's moisture content, it might be done and you can toss the finished, nicely dried and crisp kale chips into a bowl, add a little more salt, seasoning and/or cheese and cram the delicious chips into your face. BUT... but... there could be some kale in the center of the baking vessel that still contains a bit of moisture (i.e. it's a bit floppy - the chips should shatter not fold nicely onto itself). If that's the case, toss the chips again and put them back into the oven for another 5 minutes or so. I would stick around and keep an eye on them, after 30 minutes in the oven, they're going to dry out quickly, 5 minutes may be too much. Just watch them.
Enjoy the kale chips, experiment with the process and find out whatever works best for you. I'm baking in a desert so humidity isn't a problem - if you're in a place like Oregon, and/or baking in a gas oven, this process may take a little longer and may need adjustment. If you're in Arizona and using an electric oven, this process will work. Enjoy your new addiction to kale chips. I thank my sister for mine.
Chicken Cantanzaro-Style
In my humble opinion Lidia Bastianich is one of the best cooking show hosts I've seen. She has an endearing personality and I really enjoy how parts of her show are dedicated to informing the viewers from what region of Italy the recipes originate and/or contain ingredients from those regions.
The episode I saw last night featured recipes and ingredients from Calabria, it's the region of Italy (roughly) between the toes and heel of the boot. Tonight's experiment is Chicken Cantanzaro-Style. As I am a fan of butchering my own (store bought) chickens and putting stuff in and on them I figured why the hell not? And awwaaaaaaayy we go...
After preparing the stuffing I went to work on the bird. I've never cut the rib cage and keel bone out of a chicken before so it took me a while, but I did it and now will always remove the rib cage to achieve flat chicken! Yeah, hacking up a chicken is a little gross with the guts and blood and veins and other effluvia but being capable of doing it oneself and doing it quickly and well is very satisfying.
This is our little friend's breasts all stuffed with the remaining mixture (if my breasts looked like that I'd head to a doctor toute suite and get a mammogram - but these boobs are headed for a nice hot cast iron skillet and are past the help of any doctor).
And here's our friend again, resting quietly in a lovely hot cast iron skillet on a nice layer of bubbling olive oil. Olive oil is good for the skin.
The following image is after the first flip (another name for this recipe could be 4 flipped chicken)...
My intricate toothpick seal has ass-ploded... and the skin has slipped away, DAMNIT! Next time I'll use toothpicks and butcher's twine to hold the bird closed. No worries though, I figured that with the next flip of the chicken, the exposed stuffing would crisp up and be even more delicious.
This is after the 2nd flip (where I've turned the ass-ploded seam back down onto the heating surface - and no, I didn't bother to remove the toothpicks that failed before, let them sit in the hot skillet for all I care, they'll come out easier when the chicken is more done anyway). I chucked in a few peeled cloves of garlic with the onions, garlic is good, after all, and keeps vampires away, AND smells awesome while it's cooking!
Last flip shown above - that bird is done-ish. I followed the recipe's instructions and continued to cook for the remaining time. I knew at this point that crisp skin wasn't going to happen, but delicious sauce was - so I continued to wait patiently for cantanzaro chicken to finish it's business.
Above is our little friend all cooked and ready to be dismantled. At this point, dismantling was quite easy - being all cooked through and falling apart - so I just pulled off a leg and a wing and chucked them onto a plate.
After removing the bird from the skillet there was plenty of juice, onions and garlic left over so I simmered it for about 5 minutes, added about a tablespoon of butter, let that melt and cook though for another few minutes the poured all the stuff through a strainer into a measuring cup with a spout. I then poured some of the sauce onto the chicken and some white rice I'd prepared. Mind you I'd tasted the sauce before I just slathered my plate with it (having learned in the past that skillet sauce can be, and probably is, very strong juu-juu and should be doled out sparingly).
Final result - magically delicious, juicy chicken with lovely herby, lemony flavors. I ended up going back and eating the other wing as it was so good. The rest of the chicken I tore off the carcass and stored in my fridge for the next couple days. I ate the rest of it shredded into various salads or in sandwich form.
Molto Bene!
Fried Chicken
I've been on a Good Eats kick for the past few weeks and am constantly inspired by the Master, Alton Brown. So when I saw the Fry Hard 2: The Chicken (Fried) episode again I was compelled to take a whack at it - when one is craving fried chicken, one is craving THIS fried chicken.
I butchered a chicken as called for, it's so easy and a great way to take out one's frustrations... then soaked it in 'buttermilk' for 18 hours (to be precise). I seasoned it as called for in the recipe then dredged it in flour (I used wheat flour because that's what I have - which probably accounts for the rather dark color of my finished fried chicken).
This experience is another lesson in the 'approximately' and 'cooking times will vary' segments of recipes. I followed the cooking instructions carefully, used shortening, a cast iron skillet... blah blah blah and let the chicken cook for 10 minutes on the 1st side. Needless to say I was a bit disappointed when I flipped the chicken over and saw a rather dark mahogany hue on the fried parts. I'm guessing it's due to the whole wheat flour I used and maybe I had the heat up a little high (it's chicken for fuck's sake - who wants salmonella?).
For the other side of the chicken I let it fry for 5 minutes then moved it to a 350 degree oven to finish for 10-ish minutes. I let it cool and chowed down on a drumstick...
Now, one might ask oneself - what the hell do I do with this nasty fried chicken oil and how the hell do I clean my cast iron skillet? Fear not, it is as easy as the 'Italian salsa' recipe listed below... first, let the oil cool overnight (if you have dogs who like to help themselves to anything within reach on a counter top, push it way back on the counter or stash it in the oven so they can't get to it). The next day, use a spatula to scrape the oil into one of the zillions of plastic grocery bags you have on hand, put some more trash (biodegradable if you have some) into the bag, tie it up and chuck it! Okay, oil's gone, now what do I do with the skillet?
Those of us in the know who rely on cast iron cookware to imbue our creations with a flavor not found any other way know that the best way to clean the cast iron is to scrape off any chunky, burnt on shit, spray it out with some steaming/boiling hot water, then put it back on the burner and crank the heat to high, when it starts smoking, throw in some kosher salt, grab the skillet handle (use an oven mitt or some kind of protection for fuck's sake, that shit is H-O-T!) and swipe it around the pan using paper towels, chuck the nasty salt down the drain and you're done. (by the way, add the nasty paper towels you've just used to the trash bag with the oil...)
Italian salsa?
I don't know what else to call this concoction... it seems to make sense, but I think it should be called something else.
I first encountered this magnificent concoction at a tiny Italian restaurant on Mill Avenue called Cafe Boa... I didn't get their recipe, I just figured this out on my own. I had this 'salsa' on Angel Hair pasta and completely fell in love and found a new favorite comfort food.
The awesome thing about this is that it's sooooooo easy...
Mince 2 or 3 large basil leaves with a few (7 or 8) flat (Italian) parsley leaves and combine with a heavy pinch of kosher salt (heavy is relative - for me it's about 1/8 tsp).
When you mix the salt, basil and parsley together using your fingers you'll feel the moisture coming out of the minced basil and parsley - that's good!
Next, dice up a nice ripe tomato. It doesn't matter what kind so long as it's ripe and flavorful (use roma, cherry, plain ol' vine ripe, something red and juicy, figure out what you prefer)...
Keep all the seeds and juicy junk that tomatoes naturally contain and chuck it in the bowl with the basil, parsley, salt mix... combine well. Then hack up a nice chunk (about 2" x 1" x 1") of feta - make it about same size as the tomatoes, and add 1/2 to 1 tsp garlic powder, the same amount of dried chili flakes and dried oregano (if you have fresh oregano then mince 4-5 leaves with the basil and parsley leaves) and throw it all together*...
I have some nice sour dough which I'll toast with some olive oil, then top with this delicious mix... I'm in heaven.
*p.s. I couldn't finish this entire serving in one go and let the rest sit in the fridge overnight and had for lunch the next day - UH MAH GAWD! HOT SPICY GARLIC! Perhaps cut the amount of garlic powder in half, hell cut the chili flakes and oregano in half while you're at it.
Candied Ginger:
Recently I attempted to make Ginger Snaps that were just like the kind I've bought from Sprouts (and have become an addict - thanks Sprouts) - the recipe I followed was delicious, but not exactly what I was striving for in a ginger snap (i.e. neither gingery nor snappy, yet chewy and damn delicious!). I'd sifted through recipes on the internet and many of them called for Candied Ginger. Since I didn't have any candied ginger on hand I decided to make the ginger snap recipe listed below (scroll down, it's there, as well as my snappy commentary. Get it? Snappy? yeah yeah, moving on).
is the recipe I followed and wouldn't you know... IT'S MAGNIFICENT! As with any recipe, cooking time will vary, and for me it did, extending the overall cooking time by about 30 minutes. I didn't mind at all (being 8 or 9 beers deep by that time my patience was unlimited).
I did the prep work, peeling and slicing the ginger by hand. Not a huge fan of mandolines (having once sliced off a knuckle whilst prepping zucchini for my sister - literally, I have a scar!). So I used my paring knife to peel and slice the ginger, not a drop of blood shed. I used bamboo chop sticks to stir as they're easy to use and make separating the sliced ginger in the sugar syrup and separating the final product on the cooling rack very easy.
Fair warning, during the second phase of cooking where the ginger, sugar and 1/4 c. cooking liquid is re-incorporated and cooked until the sugar recrystallizes... there's a reason the recipe calls for frequent stirring. Don't question me or the recipe, just do it and don't stray far from the stove around the last 5 minutes (or so) of cooking. The sugar will recrystallize very quickly! Nearly instantaneously! Consider yourself warned and heed this advise seriously.
The final product is exactly what I was hoping for!
Banana Oatmeal Cranberry muffins:
A lovely way to start a Sunday - but for crying out loud, get your coffee started first. This is an easy recipe, but there's good reason to be alert and awake whilst baking (having once forgotten to add the sugar I know whereof I speak).
1 c. AP or whole wheat flour (I find whole wheat flour adds flavor)
2/3 c. rolled oats
1/3 c. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
t/2 tsp. salt
1 egg
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. mashed banana (wait until they're brown so they'll be really sweet)
2 tbsp. canola oil
1/2 c. dried (sweetened) cranberries
1/4 c. pecans (or your nut of choice - roughly chopped)
Sift together dry ingredients, cranberries and nuts (including spices - see below*, but not the sugar), set aside. Whisk together the egg and sugar, add the milk, oil and mashed bananas and mix well. Dump the dry mixture into the wet stuff and stir until just combined - plop into a greased (or lined with muffin cups) muffin tin and bake. Baking time will be determined by how big your muffins are (i.e. bite-size or texas-size) - stick a toothpick into the center of one of the muffins, if it's clean, they're done. Let them sit in the muffin tin for no more than 5 minutes before de-panning onto a wire rack to cool completely before storing. Or have breakfast right after de-panning. These are quite good toasted in a toaster oven, with butter or olive oil (with a little kosher salt) - just try it before you knock it.
*Being jacked up on coffee, feeling industrious and experimental today so I used fresh cranberries and added fresh ginger (roughly 2 tbsp. peeled and chopped fine, mashed with the cranberries using my mortar & pestle). I added the sugar and mashed bananas to this mixture then the oats and let it sit on the counter for about an hour before I finished the rest of the recipe. Why did I let it sit there? So the oats would soak up the juices of the cranberries and ginger. Why an hour? No reason, just decided to do something else for a while. I also added 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1/2 tsp allspice, 1/2 tsp nutmeg and used whole wheat flour - which lead to the brown color of the finished muffins (shown in the image).
With the above alterations to the recipe I found them to be not as sweet (probably due to the fresh, unsweetened cranberries) and a little more spicy. They're still pretty damn good and would go well with sweet coffee or sweet tea - not beer.
Spicy Ginger Snaps:
I researched the interwebs & found this recipe:
Foodnetwork.com Extra Spicy Ginger Snaps. & dove in head first
They are very good cookies & relatively easy to make but spicy? Uuuhhh... not so much. They're akin to the molasses cookies my mom made when I was a kid - which are ridiculously delicious.
Being a food dork & enjoying the scent of freshly ground spices, I ground the cloves & cinnamon in my spice grinder - needless to say my house smells like HEAVEN (if heaven does exist and is scented with cloves & cinnamon)!!! I even rolled the dough balls in cinnamon sugar spiked with more ground ginger. Still... not spicy enough. (I want tears! Tears from spice and deliciousness!)
Next time I try these ginger snaps I'll double the amount of ground ginger, include some fresh ginger (and the juice) and double the amount of cayenne pepper... the results of that experiment will be posted later.
Spicy Ginger Snaps II:
Alright, I tried... I doubled the cayenne and dried ginger, added 2 tbsp mashed fresh ginger and switched the ratios of brown and white sugar with the hopes of creating a crispier, spicier cookie. I also rolled the dough balls in the sugary run-off from the candied ginger recipe (above). Did any of this have an affect!?!?!? NOPE! didn't work. I will admit, the cookies have a lot more ginger flavor and are a little more crisp, but there's really not much of a difference. Try try try again...
Those snaps look really tasty!
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