Fried Chicken

Can I tell you something? Deep frying scares me. I know, I’m southern. What’s wrong with me. I’ve been popped in the face by oil before. That’s what happened. However after years of cooking I’ve gotten the key concept down. Hot oil + Water= Death. Simple enough, you would think. It’s not always applied.

When Vina said she wanted a homecooked southern meal, fried chicken is always the first thing to pop up. I had to face my fears and give her want she wanted. After all, she shot beautiful engagement photos for us. She can have whatever she wants.

This recipe is so simple, that I don’t even want to call it a recipe. Just follow the instructions kid, you got this.

First and foremost, you need chicken. Chop up a whole one, or just buy the pieces you like. Make sure they are completely thawed. PAT THEM DRY. This is important. After they are dry. Place them in a baking dish and pour buttermilk over it. Put it in the fridge over night, flip the pieces half way through. I also added a little salt and pepper.

Preheat the oven to 325F. In a ziplock bag, mix together flour and cornmeal with your favorite seasonings (I like cajun seasoning). Shake it up. Add the chicken pieces a couple at a time if you are doing only wings, or one a time if you are doing whole chicken parts. Let them rest on wax paper for about 15 minutes or while you heat up your oil. This helps the coating stay on better.

Fill a deep cast iron pot with about 1/2 in of oil. I used avocado oil. You can use criso shortening or peanut oil. Any high heat oil will do. Heat the oil to 350F degrees. Gently place a few pieces of chicken in the hot oil (don’t crowd the pot). Leave it alone for about 2 minutes, until one side is golden. Then flip over until the other side is a deep golden color as well.

Place the chicken on a cooling rack with paper towels underneath it to catch oil drippings. When all the chicken is fried, place the rack on a cooking tray and bake in the oven for about 15 minutes or until chicken is cooked all the way through.

Enjoy!

Posted on June 18, 2014 by miemo 0

Dukkha Crusted Pork Chops with Bacon Sprouts

Another recipe for the often asked question of, “What am I going to eat for dinner”. This one is great, because you can pick up the groceries after work, head to the kitchen and start cracking away at it.

Start off with pork chops. Dry them, then rub a little avocado oil on it (or oil of your choice that can cook at high temps)

Crust with Dukkha. I bought mine from trader joes. If you are fancy, you can make it yourself! Be fancy.

In a cast iron skillet, heat some avocado oil, then cook on both sides until done.

As a side, I went for Bacon sprouts. Cook bacon in a pan, remove bacon from pan and reserve the fat. Toss brussels sprouts in the hot pan with leftover bacon fat. Season with black pepper. Let it brown a little bit. Toss them on a cookie sheet then into the oven to finish. When it’s almost done stir in chopped cooked bacon. Serve with pork chops.

Again, no measurements. If you have questions feel free to contact me! ENJOY!

Posted on June 6, 2014 by miemo 0

Bacon Wrapped Mini Meat Loaves

I don’t really eat meatloaf. But in order to feed the hungry men in my house and get them to eat vegetables there needs to be a substantial hunk of meat involved. This is my hunk of meat…wrapped in bacon. I took a pound and a half of lean ground beef, added a lightly beaten egg, some lawry’s, nature’s seasoning, tomato paste, A1, Italian breadcrumbs, a chopped onion and mixed it all together to a nice consistency. Then I shaped out mini loaves. And browned all the sides in a pan.Then wrapped it in bacon, stuck it in the oven until the bacon was crisp and the inside was cooked!

I made a side of spinach, sauteed in ghee and garlic slices, seasoned with a little black pepper, and mashed sweet potatoes. The end!

Posted on May 23, 2014 by miemo 0

Aji Verde Sauce and Peruvian Roast Chicken

Dinner came in the form of a fresh, spicy green sauce, roasted chicken and sweet potatoes. This meal takes a little planning. I recommend letting the bird marinate overnight. This recipe came out of the Nom Nom Paleo book, and it was a winner with the boys. A very manly meal as one of my friends called.

I like to do things in an order that makes the most time sense. Since the chicken takes the longest to do, prep and marinate wise. Lets start there. Mix up the ingredients.

Split the bird, then pat dry.

Get under the skin and rub this sauce all up in there, and over it. Cover and marinate over night. Clean everything up. Disinfect. Make sure all the gross raw chicken-ness is gone. Then lets start on the SAUCE.

Olive oil on low heat and garlic. Let it bubble a little. There’s infusion going on up in there. Don’t brown it. You smell it? It’s ready. Remove from heat then set aside.

Time to bust out my beloved Vitamix. Put in the fresh green ingredients and mayo. Mix it up to coarse. Slow drizzle in the olive oil/garlic mix, then turn that baby up.

Stick it in a jar and in the fridge until ready to serve. So lets say the chicken is done marinating. Bring it to room temperature for an hour, and preheat the oven to 400F. Stick in the oven for about an hour or more, until the skin is crisp and the chicken is cooked!

While you are letting that baby roast. Prep your sweet potatoes. I like to boil them until fork tender before I stick them in the oven. After I boil them, I drain, then toss in olive oil and season, then spread it out on a baking sheet.

Serve them all together and enjoy a pretty healthy, filling dinner!

Peruvian Roast Chicken and Aji Verde Chili Sauce
(Adapted from Nom Nom Paleo)

Roast Chicken Ingredients

1 (4 lb) Whole Chicken
4 garlic cloves, minced
3 tbs melted ghee or olive oil
1 tbs kosher salt
1 tbs freshly ground black pepper
1 tbs ground cumin
1 tbs smoked paprika
1 tsp dried oregano
1 small lime, zested and juiced

Aji Verde Chili Sauce

2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 jalapeño peppers, stemmed, seeded and roughly chopped
1 scallion, roughly chopped
1/2 cup Paleo mayonnaise
1/3 cup fresh basil
1/3 cup fresh cilantro
1/3 cup fresh mint
2 tsp fresh lime juice
1 tsp white vinegar

Directions:
For the sauce, heat olive oil and garlic in small skillet over low heat for about 3 minutes, until garlic is fragrant and oil bubbles. Remove from heat and set aside. In a processor, grind the rest of the chili sauce ingredients until mixed. Add the garlic oil and bend until smooth.

For the chicken, stir together the ingredients. Cut open the chicken down the backbone with kitchen scissors and flatten it out. Rub the marinade all over and under the skin. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Bring out the bird an hour before cooking. Preheat the oven to 400F. Cook for about an hour, until fully cooked!

Serve with sauce on the side and anything else you’d like, sweet potatoes for instance!

Posted on May 19, 2014 by miemo 0

Soy Honey Chicken with Broccolini

The packaging lied. When I bought the broccolini, it was labeled as broccoli rabe. Upon googling, I found out the truth, as evidenced by wikipedia and google images. There is a difference! As you probably noticed from the lack of cooking posts on the blog, that I haven’t been cooking much lately. Because macarons are taking over my life. Since I have a nice break before I roll out a new mac flavor, I decided to do some SIMPLE cooking.

First up, a soy honey chicken, braised broccolini and quinoa. I’ve never cooked broccolini before. I’ve had it, and it can be bitter, but braising it in chicken stock helped. Lets start there!

Trim the ends, and cut it into about 3 inch pieces. Added zest of a whole lemon. Set aside 3 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled. I like to trim off the hard end.

In a straight edge skillet, I heat up a little olive oil, then throw in the garlic. Saute until fragrant (don’t burn!) then I added the broccolini and tossed it around with the tongs until coated with the oil. I add about a cup of chicken stock, and a pinch of salt. Bring to boil, then let simmer until tender. This takes about 8 minutes. When they are ready take the broccolini out of the braising liquid, and onto a serving dish. Squeeze a slice of lemon and top with fresh ground black pepper.

For the chicken breast, I just cut into tenders and seasoned with black pepper. In a separate small bowl I whisked together soy sauce and honey to taste. In a skillet, heat up olive oil, toss in a sliced garlic clove, then brown the chicken. Then I poured in some of the sauce and called it a day. When the chicken is done, remove from skillet and discard the sauce. It can get a bit salty if you leave it.

With the leftover braising liquid, and some water I cooked some quinoa and added to my meal. It’s so simple I don’t have a recipe. Sorry!

Posted on May 12, 2014 by miemo 0

Crawfish Pistolettes

Who doesn’t love food, stuffed into another food? In this case, I am talking about rolls, stuffed with Cajun goodness. In it we have the Cajun mirepoix, the holy trinity, celery, onions and green bell pepper. Along with crawfish, and jalapeno velveeta. OOH. I’m hungry.

Since I am no longer in Louisiana, and it’s not always crawfish season, I have to start off frozen. Interesting that has Louisiana written all over it…but it’s a product of China. Womp! I get these in the frozen seafood section of Wal-Mart.

Start up with the “holy trinity” of Cajun cooking. I wish you can smell it. I can smell it as I write this.

Add cream of mushroom, jalapeno velveeta, hot sauce, and seasonings.

Then the main attraction, and stir until warmed all the way through, and bubbling a little. Remove from heat, and set it aside to cool a little.

Hollow out the rolls, but keep the tops matched up, because we are putting these babies back together!

Stuff it.

Put them back together, and brush melted butter on it. Bake, and ENJOY.

I used this recipe as a basis, but of course I made it my own. Because that’s how I roll. Especially when it comes to rolls. GET IT? HAHA.

Posted on April 11, 2014 by miemo 0

Honey Soy Braised Ribs

I wish you could smell this. It smells amazing. And it was simple! I would put this under “Whats for dinner” except for the fact that it takes about two hours to make, and well… “ain’t nobody got time for that”.

Ingredients for the braising liquid.

Boil the ribs in ginger and water for about 30 minutes, skimming off the fat. Rinse in cold water, pat dry.

In a heavy pot, brown it in a little oil, salt & pepper it.

Now the fun part. Let it simmer in the goodness for about 45 minutes, or until the meat is tender and falls off the bone.

I took the ribs out, strained out the braising liquid into another small sauce pot. Added honey and let it reduce down into a glaze, then served it over brown rice topped with green onion and sesame seeds. YUM.

Honey Soy Braised Ribs
(exactly from Spoon Fork Bacon)
Serves 5 to 7

Ingredients:
3 lbs. pork spare ribs, cut into 1 1/2-2 inch pieces
1 inch piece ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon minced ginger
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
1 1/2 cups dry sherry
1/4 cup superfine sugar (granulated is fine)
3 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
honey-soy glaze:
2/3 cup braising liquid
1/4 cup honey
garnishes:
thinly sliced green onion
toasted sesame seeds

Directions:
1. Rinse rib pieces under cold water and place in a large pot. Fill with water and add ginger. Place pot over high heat and boil for 30 minutes, skimming the fat from the surface as it forms.
2. Drain and rinse rib pieces in cold water for a second time, removing any excess fat, debris and ginger.
3. Place a large Dutch oven, or heavy bottom pot over medium-high heat and add oil. Add ribs and season with salt and pepper. Brown for about 3 minutes. Add remaining ingredients to the pot and stir together.
4. Bring mixture to a boil then reduce heat to medium-low. Cover.
5. Simmer mixture for 45 minutes to an hour, stirring occasionally, until meat is tender.
6. Scoop 2/3 cup of the sauce into a small pot (skimming off any excess fat) and stir in honey. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until mixture has reduced by 1/3. Remove from heat and allow to cool for about 15 minutes.
7. Brush glaze over rib pieces and serve over white or brown rice. Top with sliced green onions and sesame seeds. Serve.

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I love this site for dinner/party food ideas!

Posted on February 21, 2014 by miemo 0

Sloppy Joes

I love that the honey is cooking more. That frees up time for me to do other things …like laundry and write about what he’s cooking. Hah! This week he brings…

SLOPPY JOES!

I haven’t had these in forever. And it’s usually from a can. But it seems much healthier if you make it from scratch right?

Sloppy Joes
Adapted from Foodnetwork

Ingredients
1 pound extra-lean ground beef
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeno, minced
1 red pepper, diced
1 can small red beans or pinto beans, preferably low sodium drained and rinsed
1 cup tomato sauce
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon molasses
1 tablespoon A1 sauce
1 teaspoon mustard powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons brown sugar
Freshly ground black pepper
8 potato burger buns

Directions
Brown the meat and the onion in a large skillet over medium-high heat for 5 minutes, breaking up the meat as it cooks.

Pour the drippings out of the pan and discard. Add the garlic, jalapeno, and red pepper and cook 5 minutes more, stirring occasionally.

Stir in the red wine vinegar, the molasses and the rest of the seasonings. Reduce heat to low, and simmer for 5 minutes more.

Scoop onto buns and enjoy!

Posted on February 10, 2014 by miemo 0

Strawberry Balsamic Vinaigrette

I have a new favorite dressing. It takes some planning, and I can’t just whip it up out of my cupboard like my zesty italian dressing, but still pretty simple.

I had it over my quinoa, edamame salad and everyone loved it. So happy! I hope you like it too!

First you start off with a pound of fresh strawberries. Wash ’em, trim em’ halve ’em. Put them in a small pot, add sugar, salt and water and cook on medium heat.

Once they are broken down and soft, and leaked out their juices, hit it with the immersion blender until smooth.

Even then, it’s still not smooth enough! Strain that baby into a bowl. Let it cool down to the touch. Or cooler.

Add seasoning, balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Whisk until incorporated. And delicious.

Store in an airtight container for up to two weeks. Yeah, right. Like it will last that long 😉

Strawberry Balsamic Vinaigrette

1 lb Fresh Strawberries, stems removed, chopped

1 tsp of sugar

a pinch of salt

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1/2 bag of Good Seasons Italian Dressing mix

Directions:
In a small pot over medium heat, stir strawberries, sugar, salt and water over medium heat. When juices release and strawberries are soft, remove from heat. Blend with an immersion blender (or transfer to a blender) and pulse until smooth.

Strain into a bowl. Let cool. Whisk in the rest of the ingredients. Store in fridge in an airtight container for up to two weeks. Enjoy over salad!

Posted on January 31, 2014 by miemo 0

Cooking Quinoa

Can I tell you a secret? I never made quinoa before. And I never ate it either until one time last year at whole foods. I like the texture. I don’t know how to eat it really. But since I am trying to eat healthier I thought I would start with a salad. So I made it in beef stock and threw it in with my salad! My cousin told me that she had been making it wrong the whole time!

Its basically like rice. A 2:1 ratio. Use your favorite broth, to get some flavor infused in there.

I used Trader Joe’s Tri Color quinoa. 1/2 cup of dry quinoa, washed clean in cold water. Then in a small pot I added the quinoa and 1 cup of beef broth. Bring to boil, then lower to a simmer and cook covered until all the liquid is absorbed. Easy right?

Posted on January 29, 2014 by miemo 0

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