Chicken IN a Waffle

This recipe (well, two recipes) is fairly simple, it just takes some time and may be more of a weekend meal because of that. This recipe made about 7 waffles for me, with leftover chicken. The chicken mixture is great in tacos! I kept meaning to try the waffles with some peach salsa, hot sauce or syrup, but it's addictive on its own.

You'll need a baking pan, aluminum foil and a waffle iron.

Chicken mixture (to be folded into waffle batter):

• 2 chicken breasts
• 2 ripe peaches
• salsa verde and/or sliced fresh peppers, to taste
• 1/4 cup mirin, vinegar, white wine or chicken broth (any one will work)
• 1 yellow onion

Preheat oven to 350 and get a pan ready. Cut up the peaches, taking care to avoid the pit and also your fingers, add to pan. The slices don't need to be very small, they'll basically liquefy by the time this is done. Slice up the onion into thin half rings and toss those into the pan as well. Add the salsa/peppers and your liquid of choice, mix it up a little, and then add the chicken. Rearrange the ingredients so that the chicken is mostly covered.

Cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake for about an hour. Once the chicken is easily shredded, do so. Make sure to mash up the peaches with a fork while you're added, and then put it back into the oven uncovered to thicken the sauce. You want it to be moist but not watery - mine took about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

Waffle batter:

• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups milk or buttermilk
• 1/2 cup melted butter or neutral oil
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup medium-grind cornmeal
• Roughly 1 cup of the chicken mixture

Heat up your waffle iron. Oh yeah.

Beat the eggs in a bowl until foamy. Add milk, butter, baking powder and vanilla; mix. Stir in the flour, cornmeal, salt and sugar until mixed, then add about 1 cup of the chicken mixture. I wasn't measuring here, I just added chicken until it looked like there was enough of the chicken to have some in every spoonful.

Cook waffles as per your waffle iron's instructions. Experience joy.

Tips and notes:

I got chicken breasts sliced thin horizontally from my butcher; this made them cook a lot faster and shred easily.

I used a salsa verde from some outfit called Mrs. Renfro's, it's amazingly tasty but pretty spicy. I love using it in baked/stewed dishes like this chicken mixture.

I might reduce the amount of milk in the waffle recipe next time. The waffles came out incredibly tender but were a little difficult to pull out of the waffle iron without tearing. On the other hand, the texture and crunch was beautiful.

Use up all the waffle batter at once. It can be refrigerated, but the genius of leftover waffles is you can freeze them and then pop them in the toaster for no-trouble breakfasts. Just place the leftover waffles on a cookie sheet or rack until cool, then bag them and slap them into the freezer.

I used peaches here because they work beautifully with peppers and I love peaches in general, but all sorts of sweet and savory combinations would work here.

Blackened Fish Sandwhich

This recipe is relatively easy, gives the fish a bit of a bite and is a very filling.

A delicious blackened fish sandwhich on top of a lightly toasted kaiser roll with spring greens, tomato and a cool garlic ailoi.

The recipe is for 1 sandwhich. Just add on to each ingredient as needed.

The fish used is completely up to you, but I would caution against any non-white fish (i.e. Salmon) as the fish used should be more of a 'vehicle' variety as opposed to very flavorful.

White fish (such as halibut and cod) are usually very easy to find at any grocery store or fish monger. As with any fish, it's a good idea to ask the purveyor for a chance to smell any pieces you're going to purchase. If it smells fishy, let them know and ask for another piece. I caution against purchasing fish pre-packaged as you cannot tell the quality or 'freshness' until you get home...by then it may already be too late.

Ingredients:

1 fillet of Cod (or other equivalent white fish)

1 Kaiser Roll

1 bunch spring greens

1/2 tomato

3 tablespoons ketchup

2 tablespoons orange marmalade

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 - 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1 - 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 1/2 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning

2 teaspoons Paprika (Hungarian preferred)

salt and pepper to taste

For Aioli:

2 tablespoons mayo (canola mayo works just as well and is preferred for healthyness)

1 - 1 1/2 tablespoon plain greek yogurt (regular yogurt is also fine, but I prefer the tartness and consistency of greek yogurt)

1 tablespoon sour cream

2 -3 tablespoons of fresh dill - chopped

1 tablespoon garlic - finely chopped

Combine mayo, yogurt, sour cream and dill in a small bowl and mix well. Refrigerate for 30 minutes, allowing flavors to combine. Allow aioli to sit out for 10 minutes to come back to room temperature before applying to buns.

For Fish:

While getting ready to cook fish, remove aioli from refrigerator and let come to room temperature.

Cut kaiser roll in half and lightly butter both sides

Turn stove to medium high and heat large, lightly oiled pan. DO NOT ADD FISH UNTIL PAN IS HOT OTHERWISE IT WILL STICK!!

Combine ketchup, soy sauce and marmalade in a small bowl. Lightly brush mixture on fish, covering one side completely.

Add 1/2 salt and pepper completely covering fish

Add 1/2 oregano completely covering fish

Add 1/2 cayenne and Old Bay completely covering fish

Add 1/2 Paprika completely covering fish

Place fish, seasoned side down, in pan. As it's cooking, brush the other side with the ketchup, soy sauce and marmalade mixture.

Cover fish with remaining spices

Cook until opaque and flip

Cook until opaque and flaking

Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes

Lightly toast buttered kaiser roll in new pan

Place fish on bun, add tomato, spring greens and aioli to bun.

Enjoy!!

IRC themed drink contest

So I got this idea from Skepchick and think it's fantastic. I present to you... the IRC themed drink contest.

In the responses post your best idea for a #paforums_pax themed drink and I will choose four to five other people who will try the drinks and will pick a winner. Drinks will be judged on taste, appearance and creativity. I wouldn't think it needs to be said, but I know you assholes: no illegal substances, nothing that will hurt us and none of those godawful milk curdling, vomit inducing horrors you read about online.

I'll buy the winner their drink at the next PAX they attend (as long as they remind me). We'll post reviews and pictures in here and will record the podcast for hilarity.

So start posting your drink ideas!

Simple Focaccia Bread

Focaccia is a delicious and very simple bread to bake. It has a heavy olive oil presence, which makes it fantastic as a dipping bread for clams/mussels, a great garlic bread and excellent for sandvich! One of the main calling cards with focaccia is that it's got a very craggy look and feel to it. Unlike other bread doughs, when you're spreading this dough out, you will be spreading your fingers and actually creating holes for the olive oil to hide out in as well as providing lift for the bread as it rises in the oven.

This does take time to prepare, as the dough must rise twice before you bake. Look to set aside 2 hours for this recipe.

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup warm water

1 package active dry yeast

1 tablespoon sugar

5 cups all-purpose flour

1 extra cup all-purpose flour for kneading

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon coarse sea salt (or more, depending on how salty you want your bread)

1 cup extra-virgin olive oil (divided)

Activate yeast by combining water, yeast and sugar in a small bowl. Set bowl in a *warm* place (not hot) and leave for at least 15 minutes. Yeast should be bubbling.

In large bowl combine flour, kosher salt, 1/2 cup of olive oil and yeast. Knead until dough comes together.

Transfer dough to a lightly floured, hard and stable surface. Knead for another 5 to 6 minutes until the dough becomes smooth and soft. If the dough is overly sticky and tacky, add a sprinkle of flour to it and continue kneading. Make sure to lightly add flour to your kneading surface if dough begins to stick.

NOTE: You can over-work dough by kneading it too much. So don't beat the crap out of it.

Coat inside of a medium sized bowl with olive oil. Place dough in the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and put it in a warm place until the dough has doubled in size, about an hour.

Coat a jelly roll pan or a lipped cookie sheet with the remaining 1/2 cup (yes, 1/2 cup) of olive oil.

Place onto a jelly roll pan or lipped cookie sheet and begin pressing it out to fit the pan. Flip the dough over to coat the other side and continue pressing. As you begin to get the dough to fit, start spreading out your fingers to make holes. You do not want your bread to be perfectly smooth. You will want to make actual holes in the dough.

Place the sheet in a warm spot and let rise for another hour. It will, again, double in size.

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.

Add coarse sea-salt to the dough and drizzle a small amount of olive oil along the top.

Bake until the top is golden brown. About 25 - 30 minutes.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Let cool completely before serving. Cutting it open too early will release the delicious.

Enjoy!!

Chocolate Orange Chocolate Box Cake

Difficulty: Easy

My mom always made tasty cakes, in a short time span. Her trick: doctoring up box cakes. Swap out the oil requirement for butter, and the water requirement for juice. It works for just about any flavor of cake and a variety of different juices. This is for a Chocolate Orange cake, but Lemon Pineapple with whipped cream is pretty amazing too. Experiment!

Ingredients:
Cake

• Chocolate box cake (in this case, Dark Chocolate Fudge)
• Butter (in amount on box cake)
• Orange juice, any amount of pulp (in amount on box cake)
• Other ingredients as listed on box (eggs, etc)
  

Frosting

• 8 oz Baker's bittersweet chocolate (1 box)
• 1 and a half cubes butter
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• about a cup powdered sugar
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup milk
• salt (to taste, I used over a teaspoon)
  

Filling

• 2 or 3 tangerines (or an orange)
• sour cream (small container)

Using two 8-inch round cake pans, make the cake per the directions on the box, but where the directions ask for oil, use the equivalent amount of butter. Where the directions ask for water, use that amount of orange juice. It's usually best to bake it a few minutes less and test the the center of the cake with a toothpick. If the toothpick comes out of the cake clean, your cake is done. Let the cakes cool before removing them, about 15 minutes.

For the frosting, melt the box of chocolate and butter over low heat in a small pan. Once chocolate and butter have melted, mix them until smooth, then add the vanilla. In a small jar or cup, mix a small amount of milk with a decent amount of the powdered sugar, to remove lumps. (In a closeable jar, you can just shake the jar vigorously.) Slowly the sugar-milk syrup into the pan while stirring the chocolate. Taste it periodically until you reach your desired sugar level. I prefer it a bit on the tart side. A few generous dashes of salt will cut the sharpness of the bittersweet chocolate.

If you're feeling adventurous, take the fresh tangerine or orange, wash well, and use a cheese grater to grate some fine bits of the citrus peel into the frosting. I demolished 2 tangerine skins. It's best done when the fruit is whole.

Overturn one cooled cake onto a plate, leaving the cake upside down. Using a bread knife, carefully cut it in half. Spread a healthy dollop of sour cream onto the upside down half (I used four to six tablespoons, at least), then spread chocolate frosting on top. Replace the other half on top, and squeeze the fresh citrus juice over this (I used one and a half mandarins of juice), then grate more citrus skin over this layer. Add more chocolate frosting.

Overturn the second cooled cake onto a separate plate, cutting it in half, and placing this cake bottom on top of the pile, adding another sour cream and chocolate layer. Place the last half on the cake, and pour as much frosting as you'd like over it. If you slowly let the chocolate seep over the side, you can use a knife to spread it around the sides. Use a spatula (or your finger, mmm) to clean up any stray drips of chocolate onto the plate around the edge of the cake. The frosting will be soft but solid once at room temperature, and become hard when placed in the fridge.

Simple pasta with balsamic vinegar

This dish is very much what you make of it - it can be as complex or simple as your mood and contents of your pantry. Here's the barebones version, add or remove components as you like. Don't skimp on the quality of the balsamic vinegar, there's reasonably good cheap stuff out there, and aged vinegars tasty enough to drink straight from the bottle. This is what makes it work.

Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:

Pasta (fresh if you have it)

Sausage (optional)

Coarsely chopped onion

Chopped brown mushrooms

Red wine

Grated hard cheese (example: asiago, parmesan)

Aged balsamic vinegar

Olive oil

Sea salt

Black pepper

Butter (optional, but delicious!)

Start your water boiling in a pot with a dash of salt.

In a pan, add a mixture of olive oil and butter heating up. Add the chopped onions and mushrooms. Once the onions start to go soft, add the sausage and a bit of salt.

Add pasta to the water once it's boiling.

When the mushrooms have begun to brown, the onions have started going see-through, and the sausage looks ok, add a splash of decent red wine - enough to coat just the bottom of the pan. Continue heating the pan as the wine thickens a little, then remove heat and set aside.

Drain the pasta, toss it into a bowl. Add the onion/mushroom/sausage mixture and stir. Add 2tbsp balsamic vinegar and toss. (You may want to add a bit of olive oil if it's looking dry, the object here is to ensure the pasta is coated with delicious.) Season with salt and pepper until it is amazing. Done!

Frellnik learns to cook

[19:58] <@frellnik> blue cheese, bacon, set aside, make grilled onions, dijon mustard, dill pickles, hardboiled egg, and i'd be drinking a boat!!