Thursday, July 23, 2009

Hmmm, we may have a problem

Sorry I didn't post the recipes yesterday. We may have a little dilemma. On Tuesday night I made oven fried chicken tenders and  bacon parmesan potato wedges. I loved the chicken tenders. They were crispy and flavorful and juicy. I hated the wedges, they were powdery and dry. TheCount thought the chicken tenders were just alright, but he loved the wedges. See the problem here? I cannot and will not post that darn wedges recipe (ladeda don't tell nobody but I'm making a different kind tonight because I love potatoes more than life ladeda). But those tenders were banging! I don't know what TheCount was smoking, maybe he didn't like the dipping sauce I made for them and that altered his opinion, but those tenders were good!
 
The recipe comes courtesy of Meg Kat. Click on the link to be able to see her pictures of the chicken tenders on her blog. I'll post my pictures when I stop being lazy. I will say this about the recipe: make sure you use panko bread crumbs. I've oven fried chicken before using regular bread crumbs and even corn flakes and neither was as good as this time when I used the panko crumbs. I will also say, let the chicken rest on the pan for a few minutes after you take it out of the oven. Let the sizzle stop so you won't be leaving half of your breading on the pan.
 
4 chicken breasts cut into tenders (or just buy some tenders...that works too :)
1 egg
3 TBS milk
3/4 C panko bread crumbs
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp pepper
3 TBS butter, melted

Beat the egg and milk together in a small bowl. In a separate bowl combine bread crumbs and spices.

Dip chicken one piece at a time into the egg mixture and then coat thoroughly with the breading. Place in a baking pan covered in parchment paper. Once they're all coated, drizzle the melted butter evenly over them and place in a preheated oven at 400 F for 20-25 minutes.


The dipping sauce I used tasted so yummy with these and is super simple. Just mix together bbq sauce (Sweet Baby Ray's if you know what you're doing!) and yellow mustard with a 2:1 ratio (example: 2 TBS bbq sauce to 1 TBS mustard). Make up as big or as small of a batch as you'd like. MMMMM!
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Last night I was trying to throw together some dinner for TheCount. I had some chicken and chopped onions left over from Tuesday's dinner and a green pepper that was about to go bad. I also had some rice noodles that I bought a while ago when I was being creative and wanted to use. Since I had no idea how to cook rice noodles, I consulted my good friend google.
 
I found this recipe on Blazing Hot Wok. Last night I was feeling like a rebel, so I used her recipe as a guideline (because I needed the steps) but I added my own ingredients. It was delicious! As soon as I finish typing this post I'm going to go get eat some for breakfast. The ingredients are from me, the directions are from dp of Blazing hot wok. I edited them to reflect the ingredients and methods I used. If you think I'm a fool and would never try anything I came up with, please visit dp and make it her way, I'm sure it's good, I just didn't have the same ingredients :)
 
Chicken and Kale Rice Noodles
 
4 Tbs low sodium soy sauce
1Tbs sugar
1Tbs minced garlic
1 chopped green pepper
1/2 of an onion, chopped
1 pound of chicken breast or thighs cut up into bite sized pieces
1 egg
1 handful of kale ripped up into bite sized pieces
1 package of rice noodles (found in the in the international section. The package I had reminded me of oodles of noodles- Filipino style)
salt
pepper
crushed red pepper
 
 
 
Cook the rice noodles in boiling water until semi-soft, drain well and oil lightly to prevent sticking. It took about 8-10 minutes. I kept on cooking while the noodles boiled. I randomly grabbed out noodles and tasted them to see if they were soft yet.  Season the chicken with salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper. Set to the side.

Make the sauce by mixing the soy sauce and sugar together. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Set aside, but remember to stir it before using. In a hot wok (or skillet, I don't have a wok) over high heat, add about 1 or 2 tbs oil (don't use olive oil; it sucks for stir-frying). When it's smoking (I don't get down with smoking skillets, it makes my fire alarm angry so I just let it get a little hot), add the Kale  and stir-fry for about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Don't burn it up people! Cooked kale smells like popcorn to me, not that that's relevant right now. Saute it until it's a little limp. Remove it from the wok and set it aside.

Add 2 more tablespoons oil to the wok. When hot, add the chicken. Stir-fry, stirring only occasionally, until the chicken begins to brown. Add the garlic and green peppers and onions and continue for 1 minute. Slowly drizzle the egg down the sides of the skillet and cook until they are just set. Add the noodles (that should be done cooking by now and you oiled them already, remember?) and pre-cooked Kale and stir-fry for a minute or two, until the noodles begin to soften. Add all of the sauce mix and stir-fry to coat the noodles. Taste the noodles and add more soy sauce if necessary. It's done when the noodles are cooked through. Serve immediately.
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I'll post pictures of it all one of these days! The chicken tenders are for Aidan, if he doesn't like those, tell him to submit me a list of Aidan approved foods and I'll test recipes specifically for him!


 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

If there's one thing Aidan likes, it's a chicken tender. I'll make these today or tomorrow for him. As for Aidan approved foods, I don't know how far you can get with creamed corn, okra, green beans, and tomatoes...but you can give it a shot.

Megan Lee said...

Glad you enjoyed the recipe! Ironically, I was thinking of posting a recipe for potato wedges yesterday. Look for it in the near future :)

 
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