Welcome!

Thank you for taking the time to stop by and read my take on everyday cuisine. I'm very passionate about food whether it be cooking, baking, or creating my own recipes. I hope that you find the recipes easy to understand and recreate at home. If you have any requests please let me know!

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Seeing Red

I stumbled across the most interesting recipe about a year ago in a magazine. Now when I say recipe I actually mean that I stumbled across a tiny paragraph about four sentences long squeezed into a magazine with three simple instructions. I have been thinking about this "recipe" somewhat constantly since then. Whenever a dinner party opportunity presented itself, I had always briefly considered taking this dish and promptly decided that it is too weird. Now I have the perfect reason to try it! Red velvet fried chicken. If you are anything like me you might have read that more than once. It is supposed to be the perfect blend of sweet and salty, so here I am to put it to the test.

Red Velvet Fried Chicken

Ingredients
However many pieces of chicken  you would like (we cut up a whole chicken)
1 box red velvet cake mix

Directions
1. Mix box cake as directed and split in half. Save one half in a container and put in the refrigerator.
2. Make the other into a cake. It can be any size or shape you are merely using it for crumbs.
3. Bake cake as directed and let the cake sit out overnight uncovered so that it can dry out.
4. The next day when you are ready to fry your chicken pull the batter out of the refrigerator and crumble up your cake into small crumbs (you can use a food processor, I used my hands) in a separate bowl. 
5. I would suggest using a deep fryer or a large pot filled with oil. We tried the skillet way and it was not successful. Your oil needs to be at least 375º before frying.
6. Roll your chicken in the red velvet batter and then dip in the crumbs.
7. Fry your chicken.

Ok, we found some flaws with this plan. First the bread crumbs seem to burn way before the chicken is done. If I were going to do this again I might fry it just long enough to get a crisp on the outside and then put it in the oven to finish out. Secondly, a way to test to see if fried chicken is done is to pierce the skin with a fork in the meatiest part and if the juices run clear you're chicken is done, if the juices are red or pink the chicken isn't done. My problem is how can a chicken covered in red batter run clear and not red? Unless you know the correct way to "push" on meat and see if it's cooked I would just go with cutting it open. If it's still pink, it's not done. Simple as that.

Anyway, my consensus on the whole red velvet fried chicken thing is simply this, it takes like sugared chicken. In short, I wasn't impressed. I would call this a fail but someone else might like it. As for me if I want my chicken to be covered in sugary goodness I'll stick to OKC's own Bobo's. Their honey smothered chicken wins my vote any day over red velvet.

I hope you try this for yourself if you are any bit interested. It's super easy and doesn't take very much time and you don't have to fry a whole chicken, just try a piece or two. If you do try it please let me know how you like it.

Beaucoup d'amour, de rire souvent, et bien mange

xoxo,
Susan

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Ma! Meatloaf!

Meat happens to be one of my least favorite things to eat. However, I LOVE meatloaf. There is just something about it that is so homey and rustic. Up until yesterday I had never made a meatloaf of my own. I have eaten many a meatloaf, criticizing and picking through saying "I could make this better." So naturally yesterday when I was trying to pick a recipe to try, mixed with the fact that we had meat already thawed and ready to be made into a meatloaf, the choice seemed pretty obvious. I watch the food network pretty religiously and recipes could be likened to my choice of pornography therefore I've collected quite a few recipe that I'm sure I'll eventually use someday. However, I have only ever been interested in one meatloaf recipe I have found. One day while half watching the television series "The Next Food Network Star" I briefly heard one of the judges compliment a contestant named Mary Beth and say that she would always use buttermilk in her meatloaf from then on. After I heard that I knew I needed that recipe.

Unfortunately sometimes when you are cooking you don't always have the ingredients listed in your recipe. Don't be afraid to substitute! Last night as I made this recipe, I realized I didn't have everything I needed and the grocery store definitely wasn't calling my name. I decided I would make do with what I had and my meatloaf turned out better than I could have ever expected. I'll give you Mary Beth's recipe but I'll put in parentheses what I used as well. Never be afraid to experiment!

Meatloaf (source Mary Beth Albright)
Makes 12 Cupcakes

For the Glaze
1 cup ketchup or (1 small can tomato sauce)
1 cup barbeque sauce or (2 parts barbeque sauce and 1 part sriracha) 
1/2 cup brown sugar

For the meatloaf
1/3 cup panko crumbs or (1/3 cup instant mashed potato flakes)
1 cup whole fat buttermilk or (1 cup milk- any percentage you like but preferably 2% or above and either 3 Tablespoons of lemon juice or 3 Tablespoons vinegar. Either of those mixed with your milk makes buttermilk)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Clove garlic, minced
1 Cup small diced onion
1/4 cup chopped parsley (I did not use this because we didn't have any instead I added green bell pepper)
1/3 cup chopped basil
2 Tablespoons tomato paste (I used tomato sauce. After taking out the 2T I used the rest for the glaze so you don't waste opening more than one can)
1/2 pound ground beef (85/15)
1/2 pound ground pork ( I used 2 pounds of ground beef instead of 1/2 a pound of each. It makes a denser loaf)
1 Cup grated parmesan cheese (I used Feta)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Heat oven to 425º. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and cook until soft and translucent (try not to brown). Add parsley, (green bell pepper), basil, and tomato paste or sauce and cook for about a minute. Set aside to cool.

In a small bowl combine panko or potato flakes with buttermilk and set aside for 5 minutes. Then in a large bowl, place beef, pork, cheese, salt, pepper, your onion mixture and your panko or potato flake mixture. Mix with hands until well combined.

Now here is where I deviated from the recipe. I didn't want to make a loaf so instead I make meatloaf cupcakes. I used cupcake papers to line my cupcake pan but with the amount of liquid and fat in meat you don't have to use anything. You can just place your "meatballs" directly into your cupcake pan if you aren't interested in the look of a real cupcake. However if you do use a liner I recommend using an aluminum one instead of paper so it wont soak through.

Make individual balls of meat and add to your cupcake pan, they should be about level with the top of the pan. If you have excess you can make more. I just added my excess meat to each slot to make them a little bigger. Put your pan in the oven for 30 minutes. Now baking time will always be different based on individual ovens. Mine were perfectly done at 30. To check if your meat is done you can cut one open while still in the oven and it shouldn't be pink on the inside. It should also be considerably shrunken.

While your meatloaf is baking prepare  your potatoes. I actually used a box of instant red potatoes and added butter and milk for a creamier consistency and salt and pepper to taste. It took all of 10 minutes, I love that!

You can also mix your glaze while you wait. Very simple just add all the ingredients in a bowl and stir! When your meatloaf is done baking take the pan out and spoon your glaze over the top of each ball. Replace in the oven for 5 minutes. When your meatloaf comes out, put a scoop of mashed potatoes on top of each and sprinkle cheese (optional) over the top and stick back in the over for 5 minutes or until your cheese gets kind of melty.

Et Voila!! You have meatloaf cupcakes!

Please let me know if you try this and how it turns out! Also, If you know what movie the title of this blog came from you get a high five from me!


Beaucoup d'amour, de rire souvent, et bien mange
xoxo,
Susan