Smothered Chicken

If you’re not from the south, you might not have ever heard of this dish.  And if you’re not from the south, you might find it difficult to appreciate this dish, until you give it a try.  This is not low fat, low calorie, and definitely not low carbs.  It’s not something that you want to eat everyday.  In saying that, this is the kind of food that I was raised on.  Good down south chicken with rice and a vegetable.  Usually, for my family at least, Smothered Chicken is served with Rice and Green Beans.  I posted this recipe on a web site a few years ago, and I was sad to see people using boneless, skinless chicken breast.  And mashed potatoes.

I literally had to separate myself from this recipe in terms of how it ‘should’ be made and eaten.  When my recipes are changed, it usually doesn’t bother me at all.  Really.  But for some reason, I had to really come to terms with people making this ‘healthier’….  I’m ok with it now.  It really is ok.  I don’t know what your situation is.  Maybe you or someone you’re cooking for has to eat healthier but want’s to enjoy some southern cooking.  How can I fault anyone changing my recipes to fit their needs?

Anyway…I hope you give this a try.  And change it any way you want if you so desire.

This is one of my favorite southern dishes that I grew up with.  I hope you like it!!

Ingredients

1 stick butter

1 chicken, cut up

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp garlic powder

3/4 cup AP flour

1  lg onion, chopped

3 stalks celery, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups carrots, chopped

3 cups chicken broth

3 tbsp AP flour

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp pepper

2 tsp salt

Directions

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat.  Thoroughly mix the salt, pepper and garlic powder with the 3/4 cup of flour.  Dredge the chicken in the flour mixture, and brown the chicken in the butter on all sides.  Once all the chicken is browned, remove from the pan and put in a baking dish.

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.

Drain all but 1 tbsp of butter from the pan and add the onion, carrot, garlic and celery.  Cook until softened; about 7 minutes.  Add the flour to the vegetables and mix together.  Cook for another 5 minutes, then add the chicken stock.  Increase the heat to medium-high and cook stock and vegetables for another 5 minutes.  The stock should thicken slightly.

Pour the stock over the chicken and cover with foil.  Place in oven and cook until chicken is cooked through and juices run clear, about 35-40 minutes.

 

Honey w/ Red Pepper Flakes

Well, basically I wanted to post this because this is something I add to my fried chicken almost all the time. 

I know.  It’s not the most original concoction out there.  It’s not some highly technical, highly involved, confusing 8 ingredient recipe.  I really wouldn’t call it a recipe at all actually… 

But if you like sweet and savory, then you should give this a try.  Personally, I like to just drizzle it over my chicken, but my friend loves to coat hers almost completely!  That’s a little to sweet for me though. 

Either way, give this a try.  You’ll want to add it to you’re fried chicken all the time!

Ingredients

1/4 cup honey

Red Pepper Flakes

Directions

In a small bowl, combine the honey with the red pepper flakes, adding enough red pepper to the heat level you desire.  

You can either drizzle over your fried chicken or coat it completely.

 

Diablo Chicken

This is a great recipe that consists of chicken breast that is wrapped around a savory creamy filling and sprinkled with a sweet and crunchy topping.

Traditionally it’s served with fettucinni alfredo and a nice salad. This recipe comes straight from Capo’s Cafe.  It’s closed down now, but this is one of the most beloved dishes.

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 tbsp  Butter

1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon dried oregano

salt & pepper to taste

4 boneless chicken breasts, pounded flat

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

1/4 cup chopped pecans

1/4 cup Dijon mustard

1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a small skillet, add the butter. Saute mushrooms until softened and set aside to cool. In a bowl, combine cream cheese, thyme, garlic powder, salt, pepper and oregano. Add mushrooms and stir to combine. Pound out each chicken breast until flat. Spread with equal parts of the filling, roll and place seam-side down in a baking pan.

In another bowl, mix the sugar, pecans, mustard and parsley. Spread mixture on top of the chicken. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes.

print this recipe here

 

Fried Chicken

Nearly everyone has their favorite Fried Chicken recipe.  This one has been very good to me for quite some time.  It’s flavorful and the coating comes out nice and crisp. 

If time permits, I soak my chicken in a brine or in buttermilk for a few hours.  But with this recipe, it’s not necessarily needed.

Ingredients

6 cups vegetable oil for frying 

2/3 cup all purpose flour

1 tablespoon salt

2 tablespoons ground white pepper

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 teaspoons paprika

3 eggs

1 frying chicken, cut up

Directions

Heat oil over medium heat in a deep cast iron skillet. Combine the flour, salt, peppers, and paprika in a bowl.

In another bowl, break eggs and beat until well blended.

Check temperature of oil by dropping a pinch of flour mixture in pan. If the oil bubbles rapidly around the flour, it will be the right temperature.

Dip each piece of chicken into eggs; then coat generously with the flour mixture. Let rest on a cookie rack for 30 minutes to let the coating adhere nicely to the chicken. Drop each piece into the hot oil and fry for 15 to 25 minutes or until the chicken is golden brown and cooked through.

Drain chicken on paper towels and serve warm.

print this recipe here

 

Gumbo

There’s one thing about Gumbo that you should know.  There are so many versions, it’s utterly ridiculous. 

 

You can leave in or delete many of the ingredients below.  The roux (the shortening/flour mixture), is pretty much a staple in gumbo, but some people leave that out and use a tomato base.  I personally have never had a Gumbo with tomatoes, and I probably never will.  I know I said you can change things up, but I could never imagine making a gumbo with tomatoes.  My great grandmother, cajun as you can get, told me that a good gumbo should look like dirty mop water.  No, it doesn’t sound appetizing, but that’s pretty much the way it looks.  Now, back to the different ways to make gumbo.  The recipe below calls for a shortening/flour mix for the roux.  But many people use vegetable oil. Also, if you don’t want to use water, you can use shrimp stock, chicken stock, vegetable stock…  You can leave the chicken out, and substitute it for duck, rabbit, squirrel,  nutria, raccoons and opossums.  You can substitute the Blue Crab for Dungeness Crab (though don’t let my mom know you did that, cuz that’s not new orleans), you can use a different type of sausage (a more cajun one, or andouille).  Leave the oysters out if you want!   

The bottom line?  No two families make gumbo the same.   

But this is THE way my mom always makes her gumbo.

Serves 12-14

1 cup shortening
1 cup flour  (the flour and shortening combo make the roux.  add more roux to make your gumbo thicker, and less for a thinner gumbo)
1 large onion, chopped 
3 ribs celery, chopped 
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 1/2 gallons water or chicken stock 
1 chicken, cut up 
1 lb smoked sausage, cut in 1/4 inch slices 
Salt, freshly ground black pepper and cayenne pepper to taste
2 bay leaves  
2 (8 oz) can oysters, with the water (boiled, not smoked)
3 pounds medium shrimp, peeled and deveined 
3 pounds blue crab, cracked down the middle 

Heat the shortening on medium high in a large cast iron skillet. Once melted add the flour and combine. Cook the roux, stirring constantly, to a dark peanut butter color. This takes quite a while, just go with it.
***disclaimer: roux needs to be stirred constantly, if you walk away for even a minute, it will burn. If this happens, throw it away and WASH YOUR SKILLET. Wiping it won’t do because the taste and smell will still be there***
When the roux reaches a color just a bit darker than peanut butter, add the vegetables, combine and continue cooking and stirring. (be careful not to spatter yourself when you add the veggies). When the vegetables are tender and the roux reaches the chocolate color, carefully transfer it to a heavy bottomed large pot. Add the water (or stock) and stir until the roux incorporates with the water. Add the chicken, seasonings and bay leaves. Simmer for about a 1/2 hour, then add the sausage.  Continue cooking for an additional 1/2 hour. BTW…it should have a stew like consistency.

Add the oysters, shrimp and crab about 10 minutes before serving.  Re-season with salt, pepper if needed
Serve in large soup or gumbo bowls over about 1/2 cup of cooked rice per serving.  Sprinkle a little gumbo file (fee-lay) on top before serving, if you so desire
Oh!! Don’t eat the bay leaves!!!

Tori no kara-age

Ok.  That’s a pretty fancy name.  It’s just Chicken Nuggets.

But these are no ordinary nuggets.  These are little pieces of heaven Japanese Chicken Nuggets!  That means that whenever I know I’m gonna be eating them or making them, my tummy does the happy dance.

Nope…the Golden Arches have nothin’ on these chicken nuggets!!

Serves 2

Ingredients

8 ounces boneless chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces ( To change it up a little, I usually use one thigh and one breast)

1 egg, beaten

1 tsp grated ginger

1 clove garlic, grated

2 tsp soy sauce

1 lemon, halved

2 tbsp wheat flour

2 tbsp cornstarch

Oil for deep frying

Directions

Mix together the egg, ginger, garlic, soy sauce and the juice from 1/2 a lemon in a medium sized bowl.  Place the chicken pieces in the bowl and toss to coat.  Let the chicken marinate for about 1/2 an hour.

Meanwhile, mix together the flour and cornstarch.

Heat the oil in your wok, or heavy bottomed skillet.

After the chicken has marinated, remove from the liquid and let the excess drain off.

Toss the chicken in the flour mixture to coat.  Deep fry in the oil until golden brown.

After cooking is complete and the chicken is removed from the oil, squeeze the other half of the lemon over top the chicken.

print this recipe here

 

Madras Curry Fried Chicken

 This is a recipe I found on the web posted by ‘Foreign Cinema’.  Foreign Cinema is a restaurant in San Francisco, and was very nice to share this recipe.  Cuz this chicken is hella good!!

Serves 4

Ingredients

3 tbsp, plus 1 tsp Madras Curry Powder

1 tsp Garlic Powder

1/8 tsp Red Chili Flakes

1 pinch Sugar

1 (3 lb) Chicken, cut into 8 pieces

3 tsp Kosher Salt, divided

2 cups All Purpose Flour

1 tsp Black Pepper

3 cups Buttermilk

Directions

Mix together 3 tbsp curry powder, garlic powder, chili flakes and sugar.  Season the chicken with the curry mixture and 2 tsp salt.  Cover; refrigerate overnight.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, pepper, remaining 1 tsp curry powder and the remaining 1 tsp salt.

Dip the chicken in the buttermilk, and then throughly coat with the flour mixture.

In a fryer preheated to 300f, fry chicken until golden brown and cooked through.

Transfer the chicken to a sheet pan; let rest 4 minutes before serving.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Just a side note….

 The recipe above is as written by the Foreign Cinema restaurant.  My variation is as follows… 

I don’t marinade it overnight, because by the time I would make it the next day, which would be in the evening, I think the marinade would be too strong for my liking.  I usually prepare it in the morning, and let it sit for about 8 or 9 hours.   At the 7′ish hour mark, I pour enough buttermilk to cover the chicken, and let it set for another couple hours.  I also use about 2 cups of panko, and 2 cups of flour; mixed together with about 1 tbsp sugar, 1/2 tbsp salt, 1/2 tbsp garlic powder, and 1/2 tbsp red pepper.  This adds more flavor, and the panko makes for a great crunchy coating. 

These are just my preferences.    I wanted to keep the integrity of the recipe by publishing it as written by the creator. 

print this recipe here

 

Salvadoran Pupusas & Curtido

Because my boyfriend requested, and I obsess about learning to cook something that seems challenging when it’s ‘suggested’…whilst being somewhat challenged, I’ve recently learned to make the often coveted Pupusa.  What’s a Pupusa you ask?  Please see this quote from Wikipedia…

‘A pupusa (from Pipil pupusawa) is a thick, hand-made corn biscuit-like flat bread (made using masa de maíz, a maize flour dough used in Latin American cuisine) that is stuffed with one or more of the following: cheese (queso) (usually a soft cheese called Quesillo found in all Central America), fried pork meat ground to a paste consistency (called chicharrón, not to be confused with fried pork rind which is also known as chicharrón in some other countries), squash (ayote), or (pataste), refried beans (frijoles refritos), or queso con loroco (loroco is a vine flower bud from Central America). There is also the pupusa revuelta with mixed ingredients, such as queso (cheese), frijoles (beans), ^[1], and chicharrón or bacon. Pupusas are similar to tortillas and especially to arepas. In fact, in El Salvador, normal tortillas are about the same diameter and thickness as pupusas, without the filling.’

Now, as you read this recipe, and watch this video (you really should watch the video, it helps ALOT to see how to make them)…

you might be slightly intimidated.  Truthfully, the first few times I made these, since the masa is somewhat cheap, I did a trial run and threw away ALOT before I actually got them right, and proper enough to serve.

Please don’t let them intimidate you.  YOU CAN DO IT!!

Makes approx 10-12 Pupusas

Ingredients

2 lbs chicken or pork

1 cup water

1 onion chopped

1 tbsp chipotle seasoning

1 (10 oz) can enchilada sauce

1 (14.5 oz) can stewed tomatoes, mexican style

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1 cup queso blanco, shredded or crumbled

1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded

6 cups maseca

5 cups water (approx)

Directions

Cut up the pork/chicken in 3 inch pieces.  Combine the meat and the next 8 ingredients in a heavy bottomed pot, and summer until the meat is fork tender.  Remove the meat from the mixture and shred.  Place in a bowl, and set aside.  Pour the sauce mixture into a blender, and blend to until smooth.  Pour enough sauce into the meat mixture to just make it wet, not soupy.  Put the rest of the sauce in an air tight container if you’d like, or discard.  (I pour some on top of my pupusa).

Add the cheeses to the meat mixture, mix well to incorporate, and set aside.

In a separate bowl, add the maseca and combine with the water (add about 1 cup at a time).  The texture should be soft, but not too wet.  (the masa should not crack when pressed down on.)  Also, you should have a little vegetable oil on a plate or in a small bowl.  Lightly oil your hands before making each pupusa.

Once the masa is mixed well, lightly coat your hands with the oil, and take enough masa to form about a 2 inch ball.  Once the ball is made, start flattening it out by using a slapping motion from palm to palm (kind of like a clapping motion).  It should flatten out pretty easy and quickly.  Cup your hands to make a well in the tortilla, and place the meat mixture in the ‘cup’, about 1 tablespoon.    Close the tortilla around the mixture, to make a sort of pouch.  Pinch off any excess masa, and add it back to the masa mixture after the pouch is closed.  Lightly roll into a ball, and using the same clapping motion as before, flatten the ball to about 5 inches in diameter.  It should be about 1/4 inch thick.  Keep covered while making the rest, and keep them separated by sheets of parchment paper or a moist papertowel.

You can start cooking the pupusas once you have a few made, and continue to form the others while the first are cooking.

Heat your skillet to med-high heat, and lightly brush with vegetable oil.  Cook each pupusa about 4-5 minutes per side.

Serve your pupusa with 1 or all of the following…curtido (recipe below), salsa, or mexican crema.

____________________________________________________

Curtido is a salvadoran cabbage salad traditionally served with Pupusas.

Curtido

Ingredients

1 medium head of cabbage

3 cups boiling water

1 small onion, thinly sliced

2 carrots, grated

1 jalapeno pepper, sliced

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp brown sugar

1/2 cup vinegar

1/2 cup water

Directions

Place the cabbage in a heat proof bowl and add the boiling water.  Let sit for 2 minutes and drain using a colander.  Place the cabbage back in the bowl, and add the remaining ingredients.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving.

The traditional way to eat pupusas with the curtido is to tear off a piece of pupusa and use it to pinch some curtido and eat together.

 

Fried Chicken Wings

This is one of my favorite recipes!  I know it’s basic.  Maybe somewhat boring.  But I love wings!!  I usually enjoy half the batch bare, and the other half I drizzle with warm honey spiked with red pepper flakes!!  Oh.  So.  Yummy!

Serves 2

Ingredients
2/3 cup dry panko bread crumbs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp pepper
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
10 chicken wings

Directions
Heat oil to 375 degrees F. 
In a large resealable plastic bag, combine the bread crumbs, flour, garlic powder, salt and pepper. In a small bowl, whisk egg and water. Cut chicken wings into three sections; discard wing tips. Dip wings in egg, then place in bag and shake to coat.  After you’ve completed coating all the wings, place them on a baking rack, and let them sit for 15-20 minutes. In small batches, fry until golden brown and the juices run clear.

print this recipe here