Homemade Chicken Nuggets with Dipping Sauces and Fried Plantains

Recently, we went to an electronics/media/appliances superstore. While wandering aimlessly about in the appliances section (day dreaming about what great things I could make with all these new kitchen gadgets) I stumbled across a fairly expensive oven. I was so shocked when I looked at the 'control panel' part that I took a picture of it.

Notice the top middle button?

What kind of society are we living in that we have to have a button on our oven for frozen chicken nuggets? Seriously? When I showed Mike, he said I should do a blog post of homemade chicken nuggets and corresponding dipping sauces.


Shortly thereafter, while talking to a friend of mine, she told me that her eleven year old son wants to eat nothing but fast food chicken nuggets and fries. So I told her about Mike's idea for a chicken nuggets blog post and I told her I'd post it ASAP for her son. Maybe he'll appreciate the homemade more than the fast food. Not only is it better for you but you can play around with making your own personal dipping sauces too.

Instead of the traditional french fries that goes with chicken nuggets, I made fried plantains. Plantains are those dark green large bananas in the grocery store. I had these at a Cuban restaurant once and immediately came home and tried to make them myself; they were that good! Why not try them instead of fries? Maybe the kids will like them even better. And if not, well, more for you.

I did add a salad to this dinner, to counteract the fried foods.

Homemade Chicken Nuggets

1 package organic chicken breast tenderloins
1/2 cup flour
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 sleeve of Ritz Crackers
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
olive oil

In a heavy saute pan, add enough oil to cover the bottom. Heat on medium low heat.

In a food processor, add Ritz crackers, onion and garlic powders and cayenne pepper. Pulse until crackers are small crumbs. Pour crumbs into a shallow dish or bowl.

In another bowl, add flour and in a third bowl, add the eggs.

Remove chicken tenderloins from package and cut them in half. Coat each chicken piece in flour first, then egg, then cracker crumbs. When each piece is completely coated with cracker crumbs, place piece carefully into saute pan with hot oil. Repeat with all chicken pieces.

Cook chicken until golden brown on each side and fully cooked through. This will vary depending on your stove, pan and thickness of the chicken.

Remove chicken to a plate covered with a paper towel and allow to drain off excess oil.

Serve with your choice of dipping sauces.

Sweet Chili Dipping Sauce

1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup orange flavored vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
2 large garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 tbsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp chili powder

In a saucepan, combine vinegars and sugar (if you don't have the orange vinegar, you can use 1/4 cup of white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar instead). Heat to boiling, then turn heat down and allow to simmer about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add garlic, red pepper flakes and chili powder. Stir well.

Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce

5 tbsp honey
3 tbsp Dijon mustard (I like Grey Poupon)
2 tbsp white wine vinegar

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Mix extremely well.

Spicy Ketchup

1/2 cup ketchup
1 or 2 tbsp of your favorite hot sauce

Combine both in a bowl and mix well.

Fried Plantains

2 plantains, peeled and sliced into 1/4 inch rounds
olive oil
salt

First off, the way you peel a plantain is this: cut off each end. With a sharp knife, slice one side of the plantain just through the skin from top to bottom. Using your finger nails or the tip of a knife, pry apart the skin and peel off.

Add enough olive oil to a frying pan to coat the bottom. Heat on medium heat. When oil is hot, carefully add sliced plantains to pan. Cook 2 minutes on each side.

Cover a cutting board with paper towel. Remove plantains from oil and arrange on cutting board. Cover with paper towel. Using a mallet, flatten each plantain. Return flattened plantains to hot oil for 1 minute on each side.

Remove to a plate covered with paper towel to drain excess oil and sprinkle with salt.

Enjoy.

Salad Dressings, Dips or Marindes

Have you every read the back of a salad dressing bottle? The ingredient list is filled with poly-syllabic words like monosulfosis and polydextrosonity (I made those up). And nothing tastes better than dressing you make at home. It's easy, tasty and made with the best ingredients you can get your hands on.

Granted, no dressing you make at home is going to have a shelf life of a hundred years but be honest, aren't you a little disturbed about how long store-bought dressing lasts, even after you open it?

Thought so.

In light of the above, I have assembled my three favorite (at least for now) make at home dressings.

Honey Mustard
Garlic Dijon Vinaigrette
Bacon Shallot Vinaigrette

Honey Mustard is the easiest thing I've ever made that tastes this good. This is great with chicken tenderloins coated in almond meal or crushed Ritz crackers and fried. It's also great with french fries and exceptional on salad with the aforementioned chicken cut up on top.

Ingredients:
5 tbsp good honey
3 tbsp good dijon (I like Grey Poupon)
2 tbsp white wine vinegar

Directions: Mix extremely well. Yes, that's it. Just mix. I told you it was easy!

Garlic Dijon Vinaigrette is also extremely easy just with more ingredients. This is the dressing from my Panzanella recipe. It's just as fabulous as a marinade for chicken or on regular salad with feta cheese. Yum!

Ingredients:
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 cup good olive oil
4 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 1/2 tbsp dijon mustard

1 tsp parsley

1/2 tsp basil
salt and pepper

Directions: Whisk vigorously.

Bacon Shallot Vinaigrette is a little bit more involved but if you have a blender, that will make it easier. I use this dressing on a salad that I make with chicken slices, grapes, dried cranberries, pistacios and pears. The slightly onion-y, saltyness of the dressing compliments the sweetness of the fruits quite nicely in my opinion.

Ingredients:

1 large garlic clove, chopped

1 small shallot, chopped1/2 cup olive oil
3 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 tbsp good honey
1 tbsp dried tarragon
2 slices cooked bacon
salt and pepper

In a small saute pan, add a little olive oil and the shallot and garlic clove. Cook a couple of minutes until golden brown. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. When cool, add to your blender. Add all the other ingredients to the blender. Blend.

I store all of these in the fridge in jam jars for about a week. Having homemade dressings completely made and on hand make dinners and lunches even easier. Marinade, dressing or dip, these three are a great addition to your fridge!

Fried Pickles!

 
The other day, we went out with friends to a restaurant that had fried pickles listed as an appetizer. Now, I love pickles and I, unfortunately, have an affinity for fried things as well. But together, I wasn't really sure about that. But since I've had fried green beans before and loved them, we gave it a shot.

They were rather awesome! The pickle was still crunchy as it should be but now it was covered with a light breading and accompanied by a creamy and slightly tangy sauce. When I got home, I decided to try it and see if I could make them without the need of a deep fryer, which I don't have due to the teeny-ness of my kitchen. (and because fried things are not high on the good-for-you chart)

Success! They were perfect, almost exactly the same as the ones in the restaurant and delicious!! So for all of you who love pickles, this is how you make them even better:

Fried Pickles

1 jar dill pickle spears
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup flour
1 beaten egg
panko breadcrumbs

Heat olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Meanwhile, put flour, beaten egg and breadcrumbs in three different shallow plates.

Remove pickle spears from pickle juice and pat dry with paper towels. Coat one pickle in flour, shake to remove excess. Coat in egg and then in breadcrumbs.

Place gently in frying pan and fry about two minutes on each side, or until each side is golden brown.  Repeat with remaining pickles. Remove from pan and drain on paper towels. Allow to cool slightly before serving.

To make the dipping sauce:

1/2 cup Greek yogurt or sour cream

1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp fresh dill
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 tbsp olive oil


Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Stir thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Enjoy.

Tzatziki (the most wonderful dip EVER!)

I have a very good friend from Greece that taught me to make this. This 'dip' is fabulous on pork, chicken, veggies, sandwiches, french fries, anything really. But it is especially amazing with pork. I make it often with pork tenderloin and then use the leftovers to make sandwiches the next day. It's a favorite meal in my house. And bonus: it takes 5 minutes to make.

Tzatziki

1 small container very good Greek yogurt (I use Fage)
1 cucumber, peeled and shredded using a cheese grater
1 small bunch of fresh dill (4 -5 long sprigs), chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and stir well. Cover and refridgerate at least one hour but preferably overnight. (You could eat it right away; it is good. But it's much better if you wait) Before serving, taste to make sure it doesn't need a little more salt, pepper or oil. Serve with virtually anything.

Guacamole

I was very in the mood for guacamole today and happily in possession of two ripe avocados. Unfortunately, I was not in possession of the fresh Cilantro and lime juice that is supposed to be the other main ingredients to guacamole. I also lacked a sufficiently delicious sounding recipe for it, so I made up my own.

Guacamole (without the correct ingredients)

2 ripe avocados
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1/2 small red onion, diced
1 garlic clove, crushed
1/2 tbsp dried cilantro
1 tsp lemon juice (as I said, I was out of limes)
salt and pepper

The best way that I have found to chop avocados is to slice it all the way around the pit and twist to release the two halves. Smack the pit with the cutting edge of your knife to embed the blade into the pit and twist to remove. (Being careful not to accidentally hit your hand) Using a paring knife, slice through the flesh of the avocado, but not through the skin, first lengthwise and then crosswise creating a checkerboard pattern. Using a large spoon, scoop out the diced avocado into a medium bowl.

With both avocados now safely in said bowl, squash lightly with a fork. (I like guacamole to be substantial and with texture instead of the consistency of whipped mousse) Add tomatoes, onion, garlic, cilantro, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Stir. Cover with plastic wrap, pop in fridge and allow to marinate happily. (All food marinates happily. If it wasn't happy, it wouldn't taste good.)

While my guacamole was happily marinating, I sliced a few pitas into little triangles and arranged them on a baking sheet. After brushing with olive oil and sprinkling with salt and pepper, I toasted them in a 350 degree oven for 8 minutes, until lightly golden brown. Voila! Homemade, un-fried pita chips with homemade guacamole!

Bruschetta and Vanilla Ice Cream

Well, its 107 degrees here at 4:30 in the afternoon if you trust the time and temp sign by the bank. There will be no cooking with stove or oven again tonight. Its just too hot. On the way home from work, I stopped at the grocery store for ideas and spotted store made bruschetta. That would be perfect for tonight; bruschetta on italian bread with panzanella.  Mmm.  Except that the storemade bruschetta was $5 for an itti bitti container. So, i made a mental note of the ingredients, bought the bread and tomatoes and came home to give it a shot. I couldn't find a recipe online that i liked the looks of so I made one up. It is now marinating happily awaiting consumption.

Bruschetta

2 large garlic cloves, crushed
1/4 tsp paprika
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
10 basil leaves, roughly chopped
salt and pepper
5 medium sized tomatoes, diced
1/2 white onion, diced

In a large bowl, combine the tomatoes and onion. In another bowl, combine the other ingredients and whisk. Pour into larger bowl and stir to throughly coat the tomatoes and onions and evenly distribute all the flavors. Cover with plastic wrap and store in the fridge. Allow flavors to marinate. My suggestion would be to make the day before since everything is always better the next day.

While the bruschetta was marinating, I decided that the heat necessitated the making of ice cream. So easy to make with an ice cream machine. It only takes a few minutes.

I used the recipe for vanilla ice cream that came with the ice cream machine. Can't go wrong with the original. I did add 1/2 tsp of fresh ground nutmeg for a little dimension. Yum.

(The ice cream needs a little work. It tastes delicious but it is rock solid and very hard to dish out.)