Biscuits | onedadskitchen

Bake Up Some Salt and Pepper Biscuits

Biscuits are great to go with just about any type of meal at any time. I like to make a big batch of biscuits so that we have them around to have with various dinners or to go with breakfast with an egg and some bacon or just warmed with some butter for a nice snack now and then. The great thing about biscuits is that there seems to be an endless number of biscuit recipes and most of them are really easy to make any time you might like one. It is usually just a matter of having a few ingredients on hand to get started and you can have them for any meal you like. I liked this recipe from Bon Appetit for salt and pepper biscuits for a little bit of a different flavor.

Salt and Pepper Biscuits

3/4 cup sour cream

4 tablespoons heavy cream, divided

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper plus more

2 cups all-purpose flour plus more for surface

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Flaky sea salt

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Whisk the sour cream and 3 tablespoons of the heavy cream in a small bowl. Pulse the baking powder, kosher salt, sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of pepper and 2 cups of flour together in the food processor until they are combined. Add the butter and pulse the mixture until it is the texture of coarse meal with a few pea-sized pieces of butter remaining.

Transfer the mixture to a large bowl. Using a spoon, mix in the sour cream mixture, then gently knead the mixture a few times just until a shaggy dough comes together. Use a light hand with this part so you get tender biscuits; be careful not to overmix the dough.

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured work surface until the dough is about 3/4-inch thick. Using a biscuit cutter, cut out the biscuits, re-rolling the scraps as needed so you can use all of the dough. Place the biscuits on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and brush the tops of the biscuits with the remaining 1 tablespoon of heavy cream. Sprinkle the biscuits with the sea salt and more black pepper. Bake until the biscuits are golden brown on the tops and the bottoms, about 15 to 20 minutes. Serve the biscuits warm with butter, if desired.

You could make this dough about 6 hours ahead of time if you want and just chill it until you are ready to use it. You get a really nice tangy flavor from the sour cream in the biscuits and I liked the mix of the salt and pepper with each one. I cut smaller biscuits than the typical 2 inches of biscuits so I got more from my batch. The recipe indicates you can get 8 2 1/4-inch biscuits if you use the larger cutter. they were perfect to go with our meal and are great to have with soups, stew, chili or just to have on the side of any beef or poultry meal that you have. As I said, they are also great for breakfast with some egg, bacon or sausage or just by themselves with a cup of coffee or tea. You do want to be careful with the kneading and overmixing so you do not get tough biscuits, which has happened to me before. A light touch seems to work best here.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on April 10, 2015 in Biscuits, Breads, Cooking, Dinner

Tags: biscuit recipes, biscuits, bon appetit, Bon Appetit salt and pepper biscuits, salt and pepper biscuits

Trying a Family Favorite Again – Fried Chicken Biscuit Sandwiches

08 Jan

If it were up to me, I could pretty much eat sandwiches all of the time and probably every day. They’re great for breakfast, lunch or dinner and very often we will have different variations of sandwiches for dinner during the week to make things a little bit easier to fit into our crazy schedules. Chicken sandwiches are always a personal favorite and there are a lot of different things you can do with them. Sean really liked the fried chicken sandwiches I have made in the past and I have done them on biscuits before, but when I came across this particular recipe at Chow.com, it seemed like a really easy one to do and it made use of the boneless chicken thighs that I already had on hand. The recipe makes both the biscuits and the chicken and both are really simple to do so that you can have in easy meal just about any night of the week.

Fried Chicken Biscuit Sandwiches

For the biscuits:

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 cup cold butter (1 stick), cut into 12 pieces

1 cup cold buttermilk

For the fried chicken:

6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs

Kosher salt

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons sweet paprika

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

1 cup buttermilk

Vegetable oil or canola oil

To serve:

Sliced dill pickles

Hot sauce

Honey (optional)

For the biscuits, preheat the oven to 425° and arrange a rack in the middle of the oven. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. In a food processor, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Pulse to combine the mixture. Scatter the butter pieces over the top of the flour mixture and pulse until the butter is pea-sized. Add the buttermilk and pulse the mixture just until a moist, shaggy dough comes together.

Alternatively, in a mixing bowl, the whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Scatter the butter pieces over the top of the flour mixture and toss to coat them in the flour mixture. Using a pastry blender, and working quickly, cut the butter into the dry ingredients until it is pea-sized. Drizzle in the buttermilk and stir the mixture just until he moist, shaggy dough comes together.

Dust a work surface with flour. Scrape the dough onto the surface and dust the top with more flour. With floured hands, pat the dough into a circle 1-inch thick. Using a 3 1/2-inch round (or fluted) cutter dipped in flour, cut out as many biscuits as possible. Press straight down through the dough — do not twist the cutter, or the biscuits will not rise properly.

Transfer the biscuits to the prepared baking sheet, spacing them at least 1-inch apart. Gather the scraps into a ball, pat it into a 1-inch-thick circle, and cut out more biscuits. Repeat as needed until you have 6 biscuits in total. Bake until the biscuits are golden brown, about 15 minutes. Set the biscuits aside to cool on a wire rack.

For the fried chicken, arrange the chicken in a shallow baking dish and sprinkle it all over with salt; set the chicken aside at room temperature. In a shallow bowl, stir together the flour, paprika, cayenne pepper (if using), and thyme. Pour the buttermilk over the chicken and toss the chicken to coat it well. Add the vegetable or canola oil to a large, straight-sided cast-iron skillet or frying pan. The oil should be 1 1/2 to 2 inches deep, reaching slightly less than halfway up the sides of the pan. Warm the oil over medium heat until it reaches 340° on a candy thermometer. When the oil is ready, lift a piece of chicken from the buttermilk, letting the excess drip off, then dip the chicken into the flour mixture, coating it completely. Shake off any of the excess flour. Fry the chicken until it is cooked through and golden brown, turning the pieces halfway through the cooking process, about 6 to 8 minutes in total. The interior of the chicken should register 155° on an instant-read thermometer when you remove the chicken from the oil; the temperature will rise to 165° as the chicken rests. Drain the chicken on a paper towel-lined plate.

To serve, split the biscuits and place a piece of the fried chicken on the bottom half of each biscuit. Add dill pickles, hot sauce, and the optional honey, or any other condiments you may like, cover the chicken with the biscuit top, and serve.

There is nothing quite like having a piece of fried chicken, and having it on a flaky, moist buttermilk biscuit just seems to make it even better. I always add pickles to my chicken biscuits and they go really well with coleslaw either on the side or right on the biscuit itself with the chicken. Adding a little hot sauce to the mix also can kick it up just a bit if you like that kind of flavor, though the honey is also a nice touch and Sean did add some honey to the top of his piece of chicken and he said it went really well with the biscuit. You can serve these pretty simply with coleslaw or potato salad or any other type of salad you might like, or even some homemade or store-bought French fries if you prefer. Overall I think it is a great sandwich you could even do for a buffet or a party if you are all getting together to watch the game or hang out.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day, try to stay warm (it is about 4° here in New York without the wind, and with the wind it is about 15 below), and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on January 8, 2015 in Biscuits, Breads, Cooking, Dinner, Poultry, Sandwiches

Tags: boneless chicken thighs, buttermilk biscuits, chicken biscuit sandwiches, Chow.com, fried chicken, fried chicken biscuit sandwiches, fried chicken biscuits

Christmas Brunch Recipes and Ideas : Food Network

24 Dec

Christmas Brunch Recipes and Ideas : Food Network.

There’s still time to put together some ideas for a great Christmas breakfast or brunch. Food Network gives you some ideas that are easy to put together and look fantastic. I’ll be back after the Christmas holiday with some fun recipes I have tried. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and thanks for following along!

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Posted by MikeG on December 24, 2014 in Biscuits, Breads, Breakfast, Brunch, Cooking, Cooking Websites, Eggs, Fruit, Holidays, Potatoes, Sausage

Tags: Christmas brunch, Christmas brunch ideas, Christmas brunch menu, Christmas brunch recipes, food network, Food Network Christmas brunch ideas

12 Buttermilk Recipes for Every Meal from Breakfast to Dessert Slideshow – Bon Appétit

06 Dec

12 Buttermilk Recipes for Every Meal from Breakfast to Dessert Slideshow – Bon Appétit.

I find myself using buttermilk quite often as an ingredient in all types of recipes, from biscuits, breads and cakes to chicken and everything in between. It is pretty versatile and adds some great flavor to all kinds if dishes. Bon Appetit has put together 12 recipes that make use of buttermilk so you can incorporate it into a bunch of different meals. Check it out!

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Posted by MikeG on December 6, 2014 in Biscuits, Breads, Breakfast, Cakes, Cooking, Cooking Websites, Dessert, Dinner

Tags: 12 buttermilk recipes for every meal, bon appetit, Bon Appetit 12 buttermilk recipes, buttermilk recipes, ways to use buttermilk

Savor the Simple Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

04 Nov

We haven’t really had a lot of cool weather here in my part of New York just yet, though it is starting to get there with some nights down in the thirties. in any event, once the fall rolls around I start to think more about soups, stews and slow cooker meals because they just make you feel warm, make the house smell great and are easy to put together for a one pot meal. I decided I wanted to make something really easy and have a great soup and give some chicken and wild rice soup a try. This is a great options when you have some leftover chicken or a rotisserie chicken and want to do something different with it. There are lots of different types of wild rice that you can get, so you could always get your favorite quick version or get a regular version that takes longer to cook but seems to have better flavor, in my opinion. In either case, this turns out a very tasty soup for the whole family. I used this recipe from Food.com to make my soup when I did it, but the soup as a whole is pretty easy to put together on its own.

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

4 cups chicken broth

1 cup peeled and sliced carrots

1/2 cup sliced celery

1/3 cup wild rice, uncooked

1/3 cup sliced leeks (white and light green parts) or green onions

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed

Freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 cup half-and-half or milk

1 1/2 cups chopped cooked chicken

2 tablespoons dry sherry

1 carrot peeled into thin strips, for garnish (optional)

In a saucepan set over medium heat, mix the chicken broth, sliced carrot, sliced celery, uncooked wild rice, leek or green onions, dried thyme and 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil then reduce the heat to low. Cover the saucepan and allow the mixture to simmer until the rice is tender, about 45 to 50 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a small saucepan set over medium heat. Stir in the flour and then stir in the half-and-half or milk. Cook and stir the mixture until it is bubbly, about 1 to 2 minutes. Slowly add the half-and-half mixture to the rice mixture, stirring constantly to thicken the soup. Stir in the chicken and the dry sherry. Heat the soup and until the chicken is heated through, about 3 to 4 minutes. Divide the soup evenly among soup bowls and if desired, garnish the soup with the carrot peel strips.

This turned out to be a really great soup without a lot of work needed for it. You get great flavor from the wild rice and the stock thickens up nicely when you add the roux to it to make things even better, and the touch of dry sherry at the end really tops things off nicely. I could see adding different vegetables to this if you like, such as some broccoli or sliced mushrooms or really anything that you favor. The soup was even better the next day for lunch and we all really enjoyed the meal. I made some buttermilk biscuits to go along with the soup, but you could make any bread, rolls, biscuits or even just have crackers or a sandwich alongside of it and you have a great meal.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on November 4, 2014 in Biscuits, Cooking, Dinner, One Pot Meals, Poultry, Rice, Soups & Stews

Tags: chicken and wild rice soup, chicken soup, Food.com, one pot meals, wild rice soup

Make a Mess of These Meatball Sliders

24 Oct

I am always on the lookout for different meatball recipes. It is just one of those meal items that I like to tinker with and I am looking to add new flavors to meatballs to jazz them up a little bit. Whether it is for a simple meal with spaghetti in tomato sauce, as an appetizer for a buffet or party, to have in gravy over rice or noodles or to make a nice sub or sandwich meatballs are one of those things that you can do a lot of things with and make them in wide variety of ways with many different ingredients. I came upon this recipe from Alton Brown for meatball sandwiches on Parmesan parsley biscuits and thought it sounded great, but to me they are perfect meatball sliders for an appetizer, party or dinner. it’s a very easy recipe that gives you some basic meatballs with great tasting biscuits and a nice spaghetti sauce to boot.

Alton Brown’s Meatball Sandwiches (Meatball Sliders)

For the Meatballs:

1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork
1 pound ground veal
1 egg
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Parmesan Parsley Biscuits, recipe follows
Spaghetti Sauce, recipe follows
Provolone cheese, thinly sliced

For the Parmesan Parsley Biscuits:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup grated Parmesan
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 stick chilled unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley or chives
1 cup whole milk, chilled

For the Spaghetti Sauce:
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 (14-ounce) cans diced tomatoes
20 fresh basil leaves, chopped

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

For the meatballs,in a large bowl, combine the beef, pork, veal, egg, onion, parsley, garlic, oregano, salt, and pepper and mix all of the ingredients until they are well combined. Scoop the mixture into mini muffin tins or onto a wire rack set over a rimmed baking sheet. Bake the meatballs until they are browned and cooked through, about 15 to 20 minutes.

For the Parmesan parsley biscuits:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, 1/2 cup of the Parmesan, sugar, baking powder, salt, and pepper. Whisk until everything is well blended. Add the butter and combine the mixture with your fingertips until a coarse meal forms. Mix in the parsley. Gradually add the milk, tossing the mixture with a fork until moist clumps form. Add extra milk if the mixture is too dry. Put the dough on a floured work surface, folding 8 to 10 times until it becomes firm. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes under a damp towel. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured work surface. Using a 2-inch-diameter biscuit ring, cut out the biscuits and put them on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Sprinkle the tops of the biscuits with the remaining 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese and bake until the biscuits are puffed and golden, about 15 minutes.

For the spaghetti sauce, in a medium pan set over high heat, saute the onion and the garlic in olive oil until both are softened, about 3 minutes. Add the tomatoes and allow the mixture to simmer until it is slightly reduced and thickened, about 25 minutes. Stir in the fresh basil just before serving.

To build the sliders, slice a biscuit in half and place a meatball on the bottom half of the biscuit. Cover the meatball with as much spaghetti sauce as you like and top each meatball with a slice a provolone cheese. Place the biscuit top on top of the meatball and continue until all of the biscuits are filled.

I have to say I really liked these. While the meatball recipe is very basic, it does taste good and produces a moist meatball that goes well with the sauce. The real star of this one I think is the Parmesan biscuit, which comes out perfectly and goes really nicely with the meatballs as a slider. The biscuit has great flavor and is really easy to make so you can make this to go with other meals besides this one. we even used some to make breakfast sandwiches with some bacon or sausage and egg. Of course the meatballs and sauce can be for anything that you would use meatballs for as well besides just sliders if you want a nice, basic and easy meatball recipe.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on October 24, 2014 in Appetizers, Beef, Biscuits, Breads, Cooking, Dinner, Pork, Sandwiches, Sauce

Tags: Alton Brown, Alton Brown meatball sandwiches, meatball sandwiches, meatball sliders, meatballs, Parmesan biscuits, Parmesan parsley biscuits, spaghetti sauce

Sunday Breakfast with Alton & Bobby – Southern Biscuits and Sausage Gravy

13 Apr

I’ve had a craving for biscuits and gravy lately and yesterday stopped over at Adam’s Farms and got some of their homemade bulk breakfast sausage so I could make some this morning for our Sunday breakfast. Sunday breakfast is usually the only day during the week where Sean, Michelle and I get to eat breakfast together, so we try to make it something different and special each week. I was looking for something quick and easy to use for the sausage gravy and for the biscuits, but I wanted homemade biscuits, not the stuff you get out of the refrigerated can. I turned to Food Network and found a good biscuit recipe from Alton Brown for southern biscuits to go alongside of the sausage gravy recipe I got from Bobby Flay. Both are really easy to make so you can get a different taste for breakfast in no time at all.

Alton Brown’s Southern Biscuits

2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons shortening
1 cup buttermilk, chilled

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using your fingertips, rub the butter and shortening into the dry ingredients until the mixture looks like crumbs.Try to do this quickly so that the fat does not completely melt. Make a well in the center of the mixture and pour in the chilled buttermilk. Stir just until the dough comes together. The dough will be very sticky.

Turn the dough onto a floured surface, dust the top of the dough with flour and gently fold the dough over on itself 5 or 6 times. Press into a 1-inch thick round. Cut out the biscuits with a 2-inch cutter, being sure to push straight down through the dough. Place the biscuits on baking sheet so that they just touch. Reform the scrap dough, working it as little as possible and continue cutting.

Bake until the biscuits are tall and light gold on top, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Bobby Flay’s Sausage Gravy and Biscuits

1 1/2 pounds bulk breakfast sausage or mixture of hot and mild bulk sausage
4 tablespoons flour
1/2 gallon milk
Salt
Pepper
Biscuits, store-bought or homemade (see Alton Brown’s Southern Biscuit recipe above)

In a large pot, add the sausage and cook until it is browned and cooked through. Drain the grease and add the flour to the sausage. Cook the sausage in the flour over medium-high heat until the sausage is well-coated with the flour. Add the milk and stir until the gravy has the desired thickness and add salt and pepper, to taste. Serve with the biscuits.

I did change up the sausage gravy recipe a little and did not use the 1/2 gallon of milk. I only use about 3/4 of a cup along with a 1/4 cup of heavy cream because we like a gravy that is much thicker for the sausage, and it turned out perfect. The real star here though is the biscuits. These are really easy to make, smell great and taste awesome. You could use these for all kinds of breakfast sandwiches that you like if you didn’t want the sausage gravy, like bacon, eggs, ham or anything else. They are also a great dinner biscuit and I plan to use the rest to go along with dinner tonight. You could even just have one warm with some butter to go with your tea or coffee in the morning and you would be all set.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on April 13, 2014 in Biscuits, Breads, Breakfast, Cooking, Gravy, Pork

Tags: Alton Brown, Alton Brown southern biscuits, biscuits and gravy, biscuits recipe, Bobby Flay, Bobby Flay biscuits and gravy, breakfast sausage, food network, sausage biscuits and gravy, sausage gravy, sausage gravy recipe, southern biscuits

Enjoy Those Spring Vegetables – Awesome Asparagus Soup

01 Apr

We love asparagus in our household so it is great when it is in season and you can get lost of it at a really good price around here. It has such great flavor and there are so many different recipes you can make with it (we love it roasted; if you haven’t tried it that way, give it a shot). Couple the spring asparagus with the ridiculous cold weather we still have here in New York, and it seemed like a great time to make this great soup recipe I picked up from the food network. This recipe also makes some Parmesan breadcrumbs, which I did not make, but they sound pretty good to me. I opted to make some biscuits instead, but you could just as easily do the breadcrumbs.

Asparagus Soup:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 shallot, minced
Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
3 bunches pencil asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
1 cup thawed, frozen peas or 1 cup shelled fresh English peas (about 1 pound unshelled)
1/4 cup dry white wine
2 cups lightly packed baby spinach

For the Parmesan Breadcrumbs:
Four 1/8-inch slices day-old sourdough bread (about 3 ounces)
Olive oil, for drizzling
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
One 3-ounce wedge Parmesan

Garnishes for the Soup:
Creme fraiche
Finely chopped fresh chives
Fresh cilantro leaves
Lime wedges
Asparagus tips
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

For the soup: In a large soup pot or Dutch oven, bring the oil to medium heat. Add the shallot and salt and pepper to taste. Sweat the shallots until they are translucent, about 1 minute, being careful not to brown them. Add the asparagus to the pot and sweat the asparagus until it is beginning to soften, about 3 minutes. Add the peas and sweat for another minute. Pour in the white wine and deglaze the pot. Add 5 cups of water and continue simmering until the asparagus are crisp-tender, about another 10 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and set it aside.

Working in batches (and carefully as the liquid will be hot), puree the soup until it is smooth in a blender. In the last batch, add the baby spinach and puree; this will give the soup a vibrant green color. Strain the soup back into the pot through a fine mesh sieve. Return the soup to a simmer until it is slightly thickened, about 4 to 6 minutes. Season the soup with salt and pepper to taste. Remove the soup from the heat.

For the Parmesan breadcrumbs: While the soup simmers, pulse the bread in a food processor until you have very coarse crumbs. Once processed, transfer the breadcrumbs to a medium mixing bowl. Drizzle the breadcrumbs with a generous amount of olive oil. Toss the breadcrumbs with the thyme. Season the mixture with salt and pepper. Transfer the breadcrumbs to a parchment-lined sheet tray. Using a grater, finely grate a few tablespoons of Parmesan over the breadcrumbs. Place the breadcrumbs into the oven and bake until they are golden and crispy, about 7 to 10 minutes. Remove the breadcrumbs from the oven and cool.

To serve: Ladle the soup into shallow serving bowls. Sprinkle the soup evenly with a few teaspoons of Parmesan breadcrumbs and top with a dollop of creme fraiche, if desired. Garnish with chopped chives, cilantro leaves, asparagus tips or a squeeze of a lime wedge and a splash of extra-virgin olive oil, if desired.Serve immediately.

The soup has great flavor from all of the vegetables and looks a great green color, just right for spring. One thing to remember when you are blending hot liquids, is to first let cool for 5 minutes or so, then transfer it to a blender, filling the blender only halfway. Put the lid on, but leave one corner open so you don’t have a vacuum that can make the whole thing explode on you. It’s dangerous and messy if you don’t do this. Make sure you cover the whole thing with a towel too while you are blending to catch any splatters that can happen along the way as well. It’s a great soup that is very easy to make. The Parmesan breadcrumbs would be a nice addition because the soup does need the salt and pepper to get really good flavor and the breadcrumbs can give you that and more.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on April 1, 2014 in Biscuits, Breads, Cooking, Dinner, One Pot Meals, Soups & Stews, Vegetables, Vegetarian

Tags: asparagus recipes, asparagus soup, biscuits, food network, Parmesan breadcrumbs, roasted asparagus

It’s a Chicken Invasion, Part 4 – Fried Chicken Biscuits

01 Feb

So yesterday was for a basic fried chicken sandwich from Cook’s Country, which was very tasty. Today is something that is just as easy, might taste even better and is a little more homemade. The recipe id for fried chicken biscuits and is from Bon Appetit, who got the recipe from the Pies-N-Thighs restaurant in Brooklyn, New York. The recipe sounded too good to pass up – delicate and spicy fried chicken on a nice fluffy homemade biscuit with honey butter. How could you not at least give it a try?

Fried Chicken Biscuits

For the Fried Chicken:

1 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon hot sauce
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 skinless, boneless chicken cutlets (about 1½ lb. total), pounded to ¼” thickness

For the Biscuits:

3 teaspoons baking powder
2½ teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon sugar
¼ teaspoon baking soda
5½ cups all-purpose flour, plus more
1½ cups (3 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1½ cups chilled buttermilk
1 large egg, beaten to blend
For the Honey Butter and Assembly:

½ cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
¼ cup honey
½ teaspoon kosher salt, plus more
Vegetable oil, for frying; about 2½ cups
2 cups panko Japanese breadcrumbs
Freshly ground black pepper
4 Pies-N-Thighs Biscuits (recipe above)
Hot sauce, for serving

For the chicken cutlets, combine the buttermilk, hot sauce, salt, black pepper, and cayenne in a resealable plastic bag; add the chicken. Seal the bag, turn the bag several times to coat, and chill the chicken in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours.

For the biscuits, preheat the oven to 375°. Pulse the baking powder, salt, sugar, baking soda, and 5½ cups of flour in a food processor. Add the butter and pulse until the texture is of coarse meal with a few pea-size pieces of butter remaining.
Transfer the mixture to a large bowl. Mix in the buttermilk with a fork, then gently knead the dough just until a shaggy dough comes together.
Pat out the dough on a lightly floured surface until it is about 1¼ inches thick. Cut out the biscuits with a 3” biscuit cutter, re-rolling the scraps once.
Place the biscuits on a parchment-lined baking sheet and brush the tops with egg. Bake the biscuits until they are golden brown, about 30–35 minutes.

To make the honey butter, mix the butter, honey, and ½ a teaspoon of the salt in a small bowl until smooth; set the honey butter aside.

To prepare the chicken, pour the vegetable oil into a large skillet, preferably cast iron, to a depth of ½ an inch and heat the pan over medium-high heat until the oil bubbles immediately when a little panko is added.

Meanwhile, place the panko bread crumbs in a shallow bowl. Remove the chicken from the marinade; season it with salt and pepper. Dredge the chicken in the panko, shaking off any excess. Working in 2 batches and maintaining the oil temperature, fry the chicken until it is golden brown, crisp, and cooked through, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer the chicken to a paper towel–lined baking sheet to drain.

Split the biscuits and spread each side of the biscuits with 1 tablespoon of the. reserved honey butter. Build the sandwiches with biscuits, chicken, and hot sauce, if desired and serve.

Just a couple of things about these recipes. I used chicken tenders that I had bought on sale this past week instead of the chicken breasts and they seem to work out just fine for me. I think you could probably just as easily use boneless thighs as well if you like them better. i did have a little trouble with the panko bread crumbs not sticking very well to all of the chicken pieces. I think I might flour them a little next time after they come out of the marinade to make them stick better, but overall the flavor was really good. To me, the real winner here is the biscuits. They tasted really good and were nice and fluffy. The recipe calls for you to use a 3 inch biscuit cutter, which seemed too big to me so I made them smaller, using a 2 inch cutter and got more biscuits out of the batch so we were able to use them for other meals. Everyone loved the biscuits so I know I’ll be making this one again. I made a little cole slaw to go along with the biscuits. I tried a different recipe this time, which I will post soon, but you can use any cole slaw recipe you like best.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

2 Comments

Posted by MikeG on February 1, 2014 in Biscuits, Breads, Cooking, Dinner, Poultry, Sandwiches

Tags: biscuits recipe, bon appetit, fried chicken, fried chicken biscuits, honey butter, honey butter recipe, pies-n-thighs biscuits, pies-n-thighs fried chicken biscuits

When it’s This Cold, Part 2 – This Time It’s Soup – Alton Brown’s Lentil Soup

25 Jan

It is still freezing cold here in New York and today it is snowing again. It seemed even colder yesterday and the day before that. It would be nice if we got a little bit of a break in the weather and I cannot wait for winter to be over already. For now, we’ll just have to deal with it and that means more warm and hearty meals. Yesterday it was the bean stew recipe, today it is a recipe for lentil soup. Again, I was going for soup recipes that were quick and easy and didn’t need all day to cook or prepare. I found this one from Alton Brown for a simple lentil soup and I wanted to give it a try.

Alton Brown’s Lentil Soup

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup finely chopped onion

1/2 cup finely chopped carrot

1/2 cup finely chopped celery

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 pound lentils, picked and rinsed

1 cup peeled and chopped tomatoes

2 quarts chicken or vegetable broth

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground grains of paradise

Place the olive oil into a large Dutch oven and set it over medium heat. Once the pot is hot, add the onion, carrot, celery and kosher salt and sweat the vegetables until the onions are translucent, about 6 to 7 minutes. Add the lentils, chopped tomatoes, chicken or vegetable broth, coriander, cumin and grains of paradise and stir the mixture until it is well combined. Increase the heat to high and bring the mixture just to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover the pot and cook the soup at a low simmer until the lentils are tender, about 35 to 40 minutes. Using a stick blender, puree the soup to your preferred consistency and serve.

Just a few points about this recipe. First, you are probably wondering what the heck grains of paradise is. I love Alton Brown, but he can make use of some unusual and really hard to find ingredients sometimes. Grains of paradise is a spice from West Africa that is very much like a mix of pepper, cardamom and coriander. For the amount needed for this recipe, I couldn’t see myself going out and buying it since it can be quite expensive and the odds are pretty good I would not be able to find it locally anyway. Instead, I looked around on the Internet and saw that as a substitute many people use freshly ground black pepper or cardamom. I decided to go with the black pepper myself and just used that. Also, this time of year the tomatoes in this area are not very good, so I simply substituted a cup of canned diced tomatoes instead and I think they worked out just fine anyway. You also want to make sure that you pick over your lentils before you use them. Most of the time there is no issue at all, but rinsing and picking over them just to check for pebbles and such is always a good idea when you are using dried beans like this. Nothing spoils a meal faster than getting a rock in your soup. As for the soup itself, I love lentil soup and this one had a nice flavor from the coriander and the cumin. It was very filling and hit the spot and took no time at all to make. I made some cream biscuits to go along with the meal and we were all good to go with leftovers for another day.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. until then, enjoy the rest of your day, keep staying warm, and enjoy your meal!