One of my favorite things about fall and football is getting together with my boys and cooking them some outrageous food. I also like that football (along with holidays, good news, bad news, weekends, going to the movies...) gives me an excuse to make and then consume delicious food without penance. But Lucas and I are on our own this year, with the five suitemates we watched all the games with last year scattered across two continents.
Thus, I'm going a little overboard to compensate. It's the right thing to do.
First recipe up of the day is a must-have: buffalo chicken tenders.
A couple weekends ago, under the guise of being healthy, I tried to make baked buffalo chicken tenders with panko. Naturally, they just didn't do it for me. So I've gone back to my tried-and-true, lightly crispy, pan-fried tenders.
Start by cutting some skinless, boneless chicken tenders up into small strips. Sometimes I do them popcorn-sized, but for today, we're doing strips.
In a small bowl, combine some flour (I use whole wheat ... it doesn't have any calories or carbs, didn't you know?), cornstarch, salt, pepper (lots of pepper), cayenne pepper, and if you have some on hand, paprika.
What you do next depends on a. your level of laziness, and b. how quickly kickoff is approaching. I can't tell you the amount of times I've burned myself, dropped pans of dip, burnt mac and cheese, and generally wreaked havoc in my kitchen because I was about to miss the opening kick. Don't be like me. Leave yourself plenty of time!
(It probably helps if you happen to like: cooking and are apathetic to: football, but I promise you, it just won't taste the same.)
So, you have one of two options: you can create an egg wash by mixing together a whole egg and about a tsp of water, and then brush this over the chicken before tossing it in the flour mixture. Sometimes I just throw the chicken in there, and the only real problem that creates is that when I put it in the skillet, a lot of the flour mixture tends to fall off. But having the oil get very hot (on low heat) helps, and the egg wash does too. I
Just do what feels right.
Take your egg-bath chicken or your naked chicken and toss in the flour mixture to coat thoroughly. Heat up about a 1/2 inch of oil (I use canola ... sometimes I use olive, and then I cry because I've just wasted approximately $3 worth of oil to make something that isn't even healthy anyway) over medium-low heat and let it get nice and hot. Toss in your chicken and cook until golden brown on all sides, and place in a bowl covered with aluminum foil to keep warm.
When the chicken's all done, take some Frank's Red Hot and drizzle it in the bowl. Then serve it up with some celery and blue cheese!
In other news:
1. Fox NFL Countdown universally selected Green Bay to take the Super Bowl, and Casey Matthews is getting his first moments of playtime. Today is a good day.
2. Lucas and I are watching Eagles @ Rams first today (followed by Steelers @ Ravens and Cowboys @ Jets), and while Lucas is sobbing tears of joy at seeing his boy Sam Bradford back in action and trying to put me in his Rams shirt, I'm urging Vick, my fantasy QB, to get me on the board. Whooops.....
3. Living on the west coast during football season is weird, ya'll. Eating buffalo chicken tenders at 11am seems extremely inappropriate... but it just feels so right.
-Michelle
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