Cooking Lesson

Raven LOVES to be in the kitchen, especially with Papa Hurston.

This particular evening the plan was to have Meme's Fried Chicken (Yum!) - so I started prep the necessary items when I was informed by Raven that I could not do anything that had to do with the Fried Chicken. That in fact, Meme's Fried Chicken is Raven & Papa's job - only.
OK. No Problem. So I made Tender Pepper biscuits to go with the comfort food deluxe dinner at hand.
Papa took to teaching Raven the finer points of flouring, milk-bathing, dipping and frying the chicken. The following is what I picked up while Papa coached Raven.

Meme's Fried Chicken:

Ingredients ~

1 chicken with about 6 legs (or 1 whole chicken and a package of legs is a more probable find)

Vegetable oil to cover fryer pan about 3/4"
2 cups or so milk

2 cups of AP flour
with fork, stir in the following spices:
Kosher salt & ground black pepper to taste and a hand full of "special spices" that Papa finds in the spice rack. While eavesdropping, I think I heard poultry seasoning, cumin, paprika, garlic salt or powder and a little of this and little of that (we'll have to see if we can get those from Raven or Papa)

Directions ~

dredge chicken pieces lightly in flour

dip in milk

back into flour for a good dredge

into hot oil
- now, here's a good tip: strain and keep some of your frying oil from one cooking session to the next. It's best to put it into a Mason jar and keep in the fridge. Mark it as suchor someone kindly cleaning out your fridge may toss it. Also, if cooling it in a mug, please inform anyone else in the kitchen with you what the contents of the mug are, for they should not drink or toss out. (speaking from personal experience on this one. I didn't drink, but did toss one batch ONCE at Meme & Papa's house)

Frying time ~

Do not go messing with the chicken while it is cooking. Let it fry in about 1 inch or less of vegetable oil until you see the sides start to turn golden brown, turn once and allow to cook uncovered until other side is brown. This should take about 20 to 25 minutes.

Serving ~

Make your gravy after draining off most of the grease. (somewhere in there the veg oil turned into grease)
Serve with mashed potatoes & green veggie of choice (we prefer broccoli or green beans) and biscuits.

Mind you that this meal is only to be consumed upon occasion that you are prepared to work it off. There is no lack of caloric intake here :) but it sure is Yummy!

Do you like Egg Nog??

I do. I look forward to it coming available each year around Thanksgiving. I am the only one in my house that likes it and we are about to be gone for some time so I needed to come up with a recipe to use up some . . . This is the cookie that I conjured up today.

EggNog Almond Treats

cream:
1 cup brown sugar
1 stick butter

add to mixer & beat until batter forms:
2 large eggs
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 cups AP flour

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Drop by teaspoon on to ungreased baking stone. Place 1 whole natural almond in the center of each cookie. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until edges are turn golden brown. Let rest on stone for about a minute, then remove to rack to cool.

EggNog Glaze

1/2 powder sugar
2 tbs egg nog (more if needed to thin out)

Stir until drizzling consistency. Drizzle over cookies - Enjoy!

Southwestern Buffalo Balls

Here is my creation for JB's office Christmas Party. JB asked me to make something containing buffalo. So, I came up with the following concept for Southwestern Buffalo Balls in Hatch Green Chile Verde Cream Sauce.
Yes, it is a mouthful to say, but when asked "what's that?", the answer of "Buffalo Balls" just doesn't describe it fully. Not to mention the raised eyebrows that follow. Then feeling the need to explain that the meat came from a Buffalo Cow - and that these are not actually "Buffalo Balls"

Being a Christmas party - I was going for a concept that was fitting to the theme of Christmas. So the Buffalo Balls have roasted red peppers and the sauce is based on a Hatch green chile sauce.

Southwestern Buffalo Balls

1st step:

1 medium onion finely diced
1 Tablespoon chopped garlic
olive oil to coat saute pan

saute onion & garlic until almost caramelized - set aside to cool

Ball Mix:

2 lbs ground buffalo meat
3/4 cup wheat germ
2 large eggs - lightly beaten
1 roasted red pepper - diced (if you have pimentos - those should be OK)
onion & garlic mixture from above
1/2 tsb kosher salt
1/2 tsb ground black pepper
1 TBS ground cumin
1 TBS smoked red paprika
a few shakes woshshire sauce

Mix all of the above together -well. I like to line a cookie sheet with wax paper to lay out my balls. If you wet your hands - the meat doesn't stick as badly. Form your balls - what ever size you prefer. About a Tablespoon's worth is a good size, in general.

Cooking the Balls:

In a saute pan or fryer pan on meduim heat - coat with olive oil and work in small enough batches that you can turn all of the balls. Drain on paper towels. If this is just for at home, everyday good for you buffalo balls - your done with this part. If you are taking them out, then melt 2 tablespoons of real butter and add back in the pan all of the cooked balls to coat with the melted butter, then spoon them into a 9x13 glass baking dish to wait for the sauce.

Hatch Green Chile Verde Cream Sauce

8 to 10 roasted Green Chiles, peeled, seeded and diced (8 oz of roasted canned green chiles work too)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion finely diced
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tsp ground cumin
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tsp dried cilrantro
kosher salt & pepper to taste

In the pan that you cooked the Buffalo Balls, add the olive oil and saute the onion & garlic until translucent.
Whisk in the flour and cumin, when starting to brown reduce the heat and add the chicken broth and heavy cream.
Stir constantly and slowly, then add chiles and cilrantro.
Keep heat low - allow to simmer for about 10 minutes.
Then pour over the balls. Turn them to coat.

If you are ready to serve them: cover with 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese and place in a 350 degree oven until melted and bubbly.

If you have made these ahead of time (which is what I did): cover with foil and put in a 200 degree oven until about 30minutes until service Then uncover and add cover with 1/2 cup shredded cheese - turn the oven up to 350 degrees until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Freezable "Chicken Nuggets"

Like most kids, mine like "chicken nuggets". I really do not like to fry food, but even less like buying fast food for my kids. So, I have come up compromise: spend a few hours cutting battering and frying lean chicken breast in pure vegetable oil, then cooling, freezing and packing in a resealable plastic bag. This makes for super quick and easy lunches or dinners for the kids during busy times. They call it "Chinese Chicken", but it is really just a simple seasoned batter with 2 tablespoons of corn starch to give it the special crisp. They reheat beautifully too!

I usually do 6 to 8lbs at a time and like to fry it in my dutch oven.

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

• 8 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into 1 inch cubes
• 2 1/4 cups self-rising flour (I use All Purpose and add about 1 tsp baking powder & 1 tsp baking soda)
  
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper (use about 5 turns of fresh ground black pepper)
• garlic salt or garlic powder - about 1 tsp
• ground cumin - about 1 tsp OR ground ginger is going Asian with them
• paprika - Spanish or smoked - whatever works - about 1 tps
  
• 1 egg
• 2 cups water
• Mix all of the batter ingredients together,
  
• i usually do 1 to 2 chicken breasts at a time, cubed & coated w/ batter.
• fry in veg oil until golden brown.
  
• drain & cool on a wire rack on a covered cookie sheet,
  
• then freeze on the rack on the sheet before moving to a zip top freezer bag for storage
• reheat in 400 degree over for about 10 minutes