Jan 31
If you are looking for a fictional novel that is about the art world in NYC but mostly about buying and selling art, you should pick up An Object of Beauty by funny-man Steve Martin. I sat down with the dog, with the cat, some tea and a really warm blanket and read it cover to cover on a particularly blistery Saturday in Minnesota. Read more
I have always put chicken tenders in the category of kid food, or something on a fast food menu board…never really a great option for an at-home meal. Well, Frank persuaded me to try it, and try it with Buffalo Sauce (I have a weakness for buffalo sauce).
Plain Chicken Tenders
Prep
1 large chicken breast halved or 6 chicken tenders to start (You want these to be thin, so they cook fast in the oil). In a shallow but large bowl, combine 1 cup of flour with salt, flour, paprika and cayenne pepper (about 1 teaspoon of each, unless you want it spicy, add more cayenne). In a separate bowl, whisk an egg. Meanwhile, in cast iron pot or pan (a dutch oven works for this too), fill with canola or peanut oil, about 3/4 inch. Bring to a hot temperature (not smoking, but hot when you hold your palm over the oil).
Make
For each piece of chicken, dredge through flour mixture, then into egg mixture, then back through the flour mixture.
Add the pieces of chicken to the hot oil and let cook for two minutes – that side should start to turn a nice golden brown. Then flip and cook another 2 minutes. Pull out of oil and set on a plate with a paper towel to absorb the oil.
Chicken Tenders with Buffalo Sauce
In a shallow but large bowl, pour in 1 cup of buffalo sauce. After you’ve let the (plain) chicken tenders cool just a bit on the paper towel, submerge each chicken tender through the buffalo sauce. If you’re going to make a sandwich out of it, place between two buns!
Blue Cheese
I will definitely be making blue cheese to go with the buffalo chicken tenders next time, and will look to this recipe from Bon Appetit:
Ingredients
8 ounces blue cheese (such as Maytag), finely crumbled (about 2 cups)
1 16-ounce container sour cream
1/3 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
Preparation
Whisk blue cheese crumbles, sour cream, and parsley in medium bowl until well blended. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to serving bowl. DO AHEAD Dipping sauce can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.
Herbed Chicken Tenders with Marinara
For a pre-dinner snack at the next large gathering, this seems like a quick and tasty way to do it.
The Alt(itude) Design Summit was held last weekend, and many of the bloggers I follow daily went to it, reported back and introduced me not only to The Alt, but to so many other fun-to-read design blogs! Read more
Jan 14
Whether you call them french fries or freedom fries, these are damn tasty. And they’ll stink up your whole house for about three days.
French Fries
Adapted from Cooks Illustrated Best New Recipes
For two people, we used 4 medium sized Russet (baking) potatoes. Peel them, slice them into long medium thick pieces, rinse in cold water (you want to get rid of the starch lingering on the potatoes) and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, over medium high heat, have about an inch of peanut or canola oil in a dutch oven, and bring to 325 degrees.
In two batches, place cold fries into hot oil until just golden, and take out and place on paper towels (on a large plate or bowl); heat oil to 350 degrees.
Ten minutes after the first batch of fries were taken out, put the entire batch back in oil until golden brown, about 2 minutes.
We served ours up with a porterhouse steak, and as Frank said, “We are Americans.”
Jan 6
Happy 2011!
Cream Biscuits
Cooks Illustrated Best New Recipe Cookbook
(A note, if you don’t have the ingredients to make Buttermilk biscuits, which are superior tasting, this recipe will do)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a bowl, add 2 cups flour with 2 teaspoons sugar and 2 teaspoons baking powder. Pour 1 1/4 cup heavy cream into dry ingredients, stir/blend with a wooden spoon, and once it starts to form a thick doughy texture, remove from bowl and place on counter. Add 1/4 cup of heavy cream to the crumbs still in the bottom of the bowl to blend and what makes a thick doughy texture, remove from bowl and add to the other dough (what’s left can be disregarded). Roll out, cut into squares or circles (I use the open end of a drinking glass). Bake for 8-10 minutes.
While baking, fry up some bacon, then eggs (we poke the yolk after the egg has been in the pan for a minute). Add to the biscuit, and top with cheese!
The days leading up to Christmas were literally humming as my sewing machine aided in some fun and simple sewing projects: a tote for Frank’s sister Natalie, an apron for Betsy and place mats for Aileen. All projects took their inspiration from Lotta Jansdotter’s Simple Sewing book. Read more
Theme: Linen by The Theme Foundry
