GFP Day 41 - Hash and Scotch Eggs

What a combo! Actually, I have been wanting hash for so long, I bought a couple cans of diced potatoes about a year ago and hadn't used them yet. I love the taste of canned potatoes! I also like to use potatoes that I have baked, then chilled and diced (like "home fries") or frozen potato chunks like Mr. Dell's. I'll also dice up half an onion and the rest of our leftover ham. 

2 cans of diced potatoes. 

Heat up the skillet with a couple tablespoons of bacon grease (I never throw it out...it refrigerates for a long time and really adds flavor to the fried potatoes). 

After seasoning with Lawry's seasoned salt and some pepper, I cooked the potatoes for 5-10 minutes.  Then I add the diced onion and ham. 

Cook another 10-15 minutes, then create a little space to put the eggs. 

Salt & pepper on the eggs, then cover. As the eggs cook, a nice little crust is developing on the potatoes. After 5 minutes or so, the egg whites are cooked and the yolks are cooked to a nice, runny medium. 

Ham hash & eggs...very tasty, and I have leftovers for breakfast the rest of the week. I satisfied my hash craving!

Now, Chris will eat hash UNLESS it has onions. Mine has onions. He says he'd like to try scotch eggs again (we tried them several years ago with mixed results.) I got a package of sausage out of the freezer last night to thaw, so it's ready. I hard boil some eggs by putting them in a pan, then covering with cold water. Bring it to a boil for 3 minutes, then remove from heat and let sit for 10 minutes. 

Now into ice water. 

Stir up 1 egg for an egg wash. 

1 pound of sausage makes 4 scotch eggs, so I quarter the pound and flatten them out into thin patties. 

Wrap the sausage around the peeled egg, making sure there's no exposed areas of the egg. 

Coat the sausage-covered egg in the egg wash. 

Then coat it in breadcrumbs. 

Dewey wants some of that stuff!

Into the fryer for several minutes until golden brown. Our kitchen smells like the state fair right now!

Scotch eggs!

Looking good!

Plated up with some of our favorite local garlic brown mustard we got at the farmer's market yesterday. 

They really taste like egg mcmuffins! Very good, and they reheat nicely. 

GFP Day 40 - The Great Fried Chicken Experiment

I love chicken. Just about any way you cook it I will eat it. There's been discussion about the best way to fry chicken. We've done it on the stove and in the deep fryer. So tonight was the final showdown. 

It started with a whole chicken we dug out of the depths of the freezer. We thawed it out, then started the prep.  

We started with a brine of 1/3 cup salt and 1/3 cup sugar dissolved in 1 quart of boiling water. Once it's dissolved, add a quart of ice to cool it down. Put the chicken in a gallon ziplock freezer bag and pour the brine in. Make sure that ziplock is zipped and locked, or you'll have a mess in the fridge! Then it went in the fridge for the night. 

Then John cut it up. He likes to do this so he can cut the breast into three parts. Makes for more even cooking and an extra piece. 

Into a big container with flour and seasonings. This batch is just salt & pepper in the flour...sorry, Colonel Sanders!

Then John shook it up to coat it. He let it sit while he got the oil ready then shook it again. It was hard work!

I got him a lemonade to reward him for all his hard work. 

We put the smaller pieces (wings, legs, and thighs) on the stove in about a half-inch of hot vegetable oil. 

The breast pieces went into the deep fryer. 

It wasn't long before the chicken was crispy and hot. About 10-12 minutes

The pan fried chicken wasn't quite as crispy looking, but still developed a nice crust. . 

Side note, we ate salad too!!

We had a glorious platter of chicken. 

That looks awesome! And it was! 

And the brine made it super juicy. Brining makes a huge difference. It makes the chicken so juicy! 

Now there are plenty of leftovers.  

GFP Day 39 - Chicken Pizza Two Ways

We have a bunch of smoked chicken. Before putting it in the freezer I suggested we make a pizza with it. So we came up with two. Since Chris is home for dinner on Thursdays one of them had to appeal to his discerning palate. 

So we made a buffalo chicken pizza. 

We started by cutting up some smoked chicken. This is breasts and legs. 

Then we tossed it in buffalo sauce. This became both a topping and a sauce. 

We spread it on the crust. 

Topped off with mozzarella cheese and into the oven. 

It came out great. Not too spicy. 

Then we started our second pizza. We did something we'd never done. We made pesto. 

We started with fresh basil. 

We added garlic. We started with five cloves then ended up adding four more. 

We pulsed with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. It always takes more salt than you think. We finished with Parmesan cheese. Most of the pesto recipes have nuts but we didn't have any. 

This became our sauce. 

Next we added the smoked chicken, some caramelized onions and goat cheese. 

 

Finally we topped it off with some fresh mozzarella.  

It came out amazing. The goat cheese was creamy and the crust was super crispy. 

The bottom was perfect. I'm ready for leftovers already. 

GFP Day 38 - Chicken and a Biscuit

We've got some leftover chicken from the smoking I did over the weekend, so before we freeze the rest, we'll have some reheated for dinner. Smoked meats need to be reheated slowly so they'll retain their moisture, so I always do it in the oven. Don't zap it in the microwave unless you use low power. I'll do a hunk of half a chicken at 325 until it's hot. To go along with the chicken, I'm gonna make something I've always wanted to make from scratch, but never have...biscuits! I've always just made them out of a tube because it's so easy. We'll see if these homemade-from-scratch biscuits are better and worth doing myself. 

First, I'll make some buttermilk by combining about 1 1/4 cup whole milk with 1 1/2 TBSP white vinegar. Let it sit for 10 minutes and you've got buttermilk!

While the buttermilk is brewing, I'll sift 3 cups of self-rising flour and 1/2 tsp salt. 

Add 6 TBSP of cold, diced butter...real butter. 

Use a pastry cutter to mix the butter in, until you've got little beads of butter in the flour. 

Now, add the buttermilk. 

Mix until combined (I just used a fork). Then lay the dough out on a floured surface. Dust with more flour and knead/fold over about 12-15 times. Then flatten it out with a rolling pin to about 1/2" thickness. 

I found a plastic container that was the perfect size (and with a fairly sharp edge) to be my biscuit cutter. 

Don't twist the cutter...just push straight down for a good, clean cut. 

I had enough for a dozen big biscuits. Put them on a parchment paper lined baking pan and into the 475-degree (yes, 475) until golden brown. These went about 11-12 minutes. 

Pull them out and brush with melted butter. 

While we're testing a biscuit, chicken goes into the oven. When warmed, I cut it up. 

Chicken and a biscuit! We agreed that the biscuits are better than the ones from a tube. Very flaky & buttery. The rest will get eaten over the next couple days. Might also try freezing a few and see how they do. The web says you can also freeze them right after you cut them (before cooking), then thaw and bake when you want them.