Chicken and Waffles

Okay so little change in format. 6 menus a week is proving to be too much work, especcially if I want to give the recipes the proper attention. So I will start posting recipes in smaller quanities, but I think they will be better recipes.

Chicken and Waffles

You may or may not've heard of the southern favorite but John and I were very intrigued when we saw it on Bobby Flay's Throwdown on food network. I decided to take a different approach to it as I am far from a deep south girl. So here is a south-west version of a new classic.
Ingredients:
chicken tenders
chipotle in adobo
buttermilk
check waffle recipe for ingredients
1 red pepper
maynaisse
basil
tomato paste

Fried Chicken:
We used tenders. It made it easier to eat with the whole meal.
Marinate the tenders in buttermilk and adobo sauce, enough to cover. Do this overnight if possible. Mix salt and pepper into flour and take tenders from buttermilk into flour and get a thick coating. Two ways: I like to put it back in the buttermilk at this point and double dredge. It makes a thicker crust but tends to come off easier. John thinks it is more classic and better with just one dredging, so you decide. Deep fry in a cast iron skillet if possible, it takes very little time.

Cornbread Waffles:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/CRISPY-CORNMEAL-BACON-WAFFLES-109154

These are absolutely delicious, we loved them!

Roasted Red Pepper Sauce:
Roast red pepper. If you have never done this, don't be scared, it's easy. The easiest way is to broil them. You put it under the broiler whole. When the skin on top starts to get blistery and black turn the pepper until the whole thing looks like that. Take out of over and put in bowl and cover tightly to steam the pepper. Five minutes later remove the pepper and the skin should just peel off. Cut in half and remove seeds. Put in blender and add, 1 small chipotle, 1 TB tomato paste, 1/2 cup basil, 1/4 cup mayonaisse. Blend and add buttermilk. Continue to add buttermilk until the flavor is mellow enough for you. Add salt, pepper and chili powder.

Put waffle on a plate. Add honey butter. Put chicken on top and smother in sauce. Serve.
It may seem weird, but try it anyway!

It's been a while!

Alright Annie here is a quick rundown on leeks.

I absolutely love leeks. They are great if you think onions are too potent. Onions make my mom sick so sh usually uses shallots instead but I like leeks as alternative better because size wise its a little easier, more cost effective and has a really great flavor.

To use a leek:

Cut off the bottom 1/2-1 inch and the top, like you would with a green onion. Then cut length wise along the whole thing so the you just have 2 long half moons. take off the outside layer. Only take off what is too gross that cannot be cleaned, it shouldnt be much. Then dunk in water to get all the dirt out from between the layers. Then use as you would an onion.

One way I love leeks:

When you want a crunch on top of steak, or salad but don't want to deep fry onions. Deep fry leeks without any batter until crispy then salt right away. Delicious!