Late-night Corn Bread

 

I was still trying to find ways to use my yellow cornmeal, and I had plenty of panko left from another meal, plus I had innards from a chicken I got for beer can chicken, so I decided to improvise. It was actually quite good even though it sounds really weird. And hot sauce is obligatory!

• 4 cups water 
• chicken neck, gizzards, liver, heart
• 1 tblsp salt
• 3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1/4 cup panko
• 1 tblsp ground pepper
• chicken fat
• 2 tblsp vegetable oil
• 2 tblsp olive oil

1. Bring water to a boil and add the chicken neck, gizzards, liver, heart, and salt. Simmer for 1/2 hour. Skim frequently. Remove chicken parts. Keep warm. 
2. Mix cornmeal, panko, and black pepper in a bowl.
3. Heat a skillet and render chicken fat. Remove the chicken fat solid. Add vegetable oil.
4. Over low heat, fry the cornmeal mixture in the chicken fat/vegetable oil for about 5 minutes.
5. Add chicken broth to the cornmeal mixture one ladle at a time while stirring vigorously. Keep adding broth and stirring until there is no dry cornmeal mixture. Fry for about 5 minutes.
6. Generously grease a casserole dish and spoon the cornmeal mixture into the casserole dish. Press to create an even layer.
7. Spoon some of the broth over the cornmeal to prevent drying out. Let cool overnight. Cut into squares.
8. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Fry the corn bread on both sides. Serve with hot sauce for dipping.

Beer Can Chicken v2

 

Since I have cheap, barely drinkable beer, I decided to make beer can chicken. I was hoping to be able to carve up the chicken so it could be plated in the shape of the chicken, but the meat was falling off the bones, so I had no choice but to remove the bones entirely.

• 1 whole chicken, 3-4 lbs
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/8 cup seasoned salt
• a generous dash of liquid smoke
• 1 very large can of beer, half emptied

1. Mix olive oil, seasoned salt, and liquid smoke in a large zip top bag. Marinate the chicken in the bag in the fridge overnight.
2. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Insert the half-empty beer can into the chicken and position the chicken upright in an oven safe casserole dish.
3. Roast for 13 to 15 minutes a pound, until the breast reaches 165°F and the thigh reaches 170°F. Turn the oven up to 450°F and roast for another 15 minutes. Cut into serving pieces.

Bratwursts in Beer and Onion

 

I had some really cheap lager which wasn’t very good for drinking, so I decided to cook with it. This was done totally backwards from recipes I’ve seen.

• 1 white onion, sliced
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tblsp ground black pepper
• 5 bratwursts
• 1 cup lager
• 2 tblsp ghee

1. Arrange the onion in one layer in a heavy skillet and sprinkle over the salt and pepper. 
2. Lay the bratwursts on the onion and pour over the lager. Bring to a boil. 
3. Cover, turn the heat to low, and simmer for about 1/2 hour, turning the bratwursts every 5 minutes. 
4. Uncover and turn the heat to medium. Continue to turn the bratwursts every 5 minutes until all liquid has evaporated. 
5. Remove the bratwursts and add the ghee to the onion. 
6. Once the onion starts to sizzle, push the onion around the edge of the skillet and return the bratwursts to the skillet. Brown on both sides. 
7. Plate the bratwursts and spoon the onion over the bratwursts.

Leftover Chicken over Cornmeal Mush

 

I had leftover Lahori Chargha (Deep Fried Chicken) from delivery and didn’t feel like eating it as it was again. The chicken came with sliced raw onion, lime wedges, and sliced jalapeños, so I decided to do something with them. Except for the yellow cornmeal and salt and pepper, everything else in this dish was leftovers.

• 1/3 can of coconut milk
• 1/4 cup of chicken broth
• 1/2 cooked chicken breast
• 1/4 cup sliced white onion
• lime wedges (~1/4 lime)
• sliced jalapeños (~1/2 jalapeño)
• 1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
• 2 cups oat milk
• 2 tblsp butter
• salt and black pepper to taste

1. Heat coconut milk and chicken broth in a skillet.
2. Add the chicken, sliced onion, lime wedges, and jalapeños, and then let simmer until all the liquid has evaporated. Turn the chicken over occasionally.
3. In the meantime, mix the cornmeal, oat milk, butter, salt, and pepper in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce the heat to medium and continue to stir vigorously for about 5 minutes.
4. Spread the cornmeal mush onto a plate in a thin layer to cool.
5. Remove the chicken bones and lime wedges and shred the meat. Serve the chicken over the cornmeal mush.

Spicy Coconut Chicken Thighs

 

I totally improvised this since I had so little Peri-Peri hot sauce left (I used all I had here), but I have coconut milk and other hot sauces. (One can never have too many hot sauces in the fridge.)

• 2 tblsp olive oil
• 1 tblsp seasoned salt
• 1/4 Peri-Peri hot sauce
• 4 skin-in bone-in chicken thighs
• 1 tblsp coconut milk
• 1 tblsp ghost pepper hot sauce

1. In a zip top bag, mix olive oil with seasoned salt and Peri-Peri hot sauce. Add chicken thighs to coat and marinate in the fridge overnight.
2. Remove the bag from the fridge and allow the chicken to come to room temperature.
3. Heat a large skillet over medium heat.
4. Arrange the chicken in a single layer in the skillet skin side down. Let brown for about 5 minutes. Turn the chicken over and brown the other side for 5 minutes. Turn the chicken over again.
5. Turn the heat down and cook covered over low heat for 10 minutes. Turn the chicken over and cook covered for another 10 minutes.
6. Remove the lid, turn the chicken over so it’s skin side down, turn the heat up to medium low and cook uncovered for 5 minutes. Remove the chicken and keep warm.
7. In a small bowl, mix together the coconut milk, ghost pepper hot sauce, and 1 tblsp of the oil from the skillet. Drizzle over the chicken (skin side up).

Corn “Cake”

 

I still have so much yellow cornmeal I decided to make a (yes, one) corn “cake”:

1/4 cup yellow cornmeal

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

2 tblsp ghee

1/2 cup water

hot sauce

1. Mix cornmeal, salt, and pepper together.
2. Heat ghee and stir in the cornmeal mixture.
3. Cook for a few minutes over medium heat.
4. Still over medium heat, slowly stir in water until there is no loose cornmeal and the mixture resembles a small ball of dough. 
5. Press the ball into a mold and allow to cool down.
6. Turn the “cake” upside down onto a plate and add a few dashes of hot sauce to taste.

Baked Alaska

February 1 is National Baked Alaska Day.

I was trying to find the recipe to make a cheat version of Baked Alaska, which I had made before, but I cannot for the life of me find it. It’s probably from early 80s Good Housekeeping Magazine (I used to look at their recipes a lot, and it was way before the Internet was a thing). So here it is entirely from memory. It was actually quite good!

• 1 pound cake, sliced horizontally in half
• 1 can fruit cocktail
• 8 chocolate-covered vanilla popsicle, popsicle sticks removed
• egg whites from 8 large eggs
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup sugar

1. Cover a cookie sheet with heavy duty aluminum foil.
2. Lay the sliced pound cake brown side down side by side on the aluminum foil.
3. Bring the aluminum foil up around the pound cake to form a wall around it.
4. Pour on the fruit cocktail to ensure the pound cake is saturated with the syrup.
5. Lay the popsicles over the fruit cocktail in a single layer.
6. Put the cake in the freezer in the mean time.
7. Beat the egg whites, salt, and sugar together until there are stiff peaks.
8. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
9. Spread the egg whites over the entire cake. Use a fork to make a swirl pattern.
10. Bake the cake on the lowest oven shelf until meringue is light brown, 8 to 10 minutes.

 

Coconut Chicken with Coconut Rice

 

What can I say? I love coconut milk. So, I decided to make a chicken dish using coconut milk. I’d preferred leg quarters, but I went to Dom’s and they don’t have leg quarters.

I could have made curry, but I don’t like using pre-mixed curry powder, and I don’t have the spices I need to mix my own.

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 tblsp seasoned salt
• 4 chicken thighs
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 14-oz can coconut milk
• 1/2 cup rice
• scallions or cilantro for garnish

1. In a zip top bag, mix half the olive oil with seasoned salt. Add chicken thighs to coat and refrigerate until ready to cook.
2. Heat the rest of the olive oil in a skillet. Brown the chicken skin-side down for a couple of minutes, then turn over to brown the other side. Turn the chicken over again and sprinkle paprika on the meat.
3. Turn the chicken over again and cover. Turn the heat to low and cook for 15 minutes. Remove the chicken and pat with paper towels to remove extra fat.
4. In a saucepan, pour in 6 oz coconut milk. Add the chicken meat-side down. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and cook covered over low heat for 15 minutes. Remove the chicken. Set aside and keep warm.
5. Add water or chicken broth to the cooking liquid if necessary to make one cup of liquid.
6. Add the rice and bring to a boil, then cover and lower the heat to just simmer. Cook for 15 minutes.
7. Turn the heat off and let sit tightly covered for 15 minutes.
8. Fluff and plate the rice. Arrange the chicken with the rice on a serving plate.
9. Drizzle coconut milk on the chicken.
10. Sprinkle chopped scallions or cilantro over the rice for garnish. (I used scallions because 1) I don’t have cilantro, and 2) I don’t like cilantro. I will admit cilantro would look better.)