Gypsy Fried Chicken

It has been years and more years since I have made fried chicken. All the food health literature has made me scared of everything deep fried or fried. On Saturday I happened to read two articles about fried chicken, the common denominator being chef Thomas Keller who is renown for his fried chicken. He is a keen advocate of brining and I was tempted to try this but I could not abide the idea of all that salt in the brine. I settled for a compromise and it worked out very well. It is milk marinated chicken, coated and then deep fried. I had recently been told by a chef to marinate chicken over night in milk and this too was influencing my decision to use the following recipe.

Here it is:

2 pounds chicken thighs or breasts. Marinate these for 12 to 24 hours in 2 cups of milk and the juice and peel of one lemon. Ensure all the chicken is covered. Before cooking, drain and bring to room temperature. If you fry chilled chicken it takes longer to cook and you want to get the chicken quickly into the pan and out again.

1 tbsp paprika 2 tsp kosher salt 1 tsp cayenne 1/2 tsp ground pepper 1/2 tsp thyme 1 cup all purpose flour in a plastic bag that you can close tightly Canola oil After you have drained the milk and thrown the lemon away, lay the chicken on a flat cookie sheet. Mix all the spices except the flour. Sprinkle and pat on both sides of the chicken. Do this at least an hour before frying to let the chicken warm to room temperature. Heat the oil in a large cast iron pan to 350 degrees. Pour in at least 1/2 inch of oil. Place each piece of chicken in the plastic bag - do one at a time - and shake. Fry chicken ensuring each piece is an island and the oil bubbles around it. How long? If you are frying thighs that have been flattened, it is about 3 minutes a side. Breasts are thicker and take longer. After the first batch is fried, keep warm on a heat proof plate lined with paper towels in a low heat oven. This chicken is very crisp on the outside and moist in the inside and the spices really work well together. We had the chicken for the main course. Our friend then played a violin built in 1768. He played Bach and then turned to gypsy music. He explained the gypsies originated from India and speak a language close to Hindi. The first piece was called CSingeralas and the water glasses bounced on the table cloth. He then turned to morning music. This piece was placed after every one had danced all night and were too tired to dance. This time the cutlery bounced. Gypsies have amazing energy. You might not be able to invite a master violinist to your home, but you can get the energy and yums from the fired chicken.

Third Helping Chocolate Cake

When I read the recipe for this cake, it ended with "bake and sit down and eat half of it". Right then I knew I wanted to try the recipe. The cake is made with a chocolate cake mix recipe. Normally I never use cake mixes but they fascinate me so I read recipes that have a cake mix in them. Raised on a farm, we would make cake every day and at that time mixes were something you bought if you had no skills. My sister who was studying Home Economics and was learning about 'thinking about food' asked me if it was cheaper to make an angel food cake from a mix or from scratch. We had many chickens and so the obvious answer was from scratch. However, after the cost of chicken feed, time caring for the chickens, what do you do with all those yolks? was factored in, it was actually cheaper to use a cake mix. However the penultimate question is, "is the quality of the cake better?"

1 510 gram chocolate pudding in the mix - cake mix. I could not find this mix so I used Moist Deluxe Duncan Hines because I liked the picture on the box
16 oz. sour cream
1/4 cup oil
2 eggs
1/2 cup Kahlua
12 oz chocolate chips.

Glaze
1 cup of chocolate chips
1/8 cup cream

Calories - do not count

Mix the cake according to instructions on the box using the oil and the eggs when you beat the batter and then stir in the other ingredients. Bake in a greased bundt pan for 50 to 55 minutes. Cool completely. Invert on a plate and hope that the entire cake will break free from the bundt pan.

To glaze, melt 1 cup of good good quality chocolate with 1/8 cup of cream. Pour over the cake. Decorate with any fresh flowers.

Sit down and eat half the cake. Share the other half with your family and friends and be sure to save some for your daugher in law who has a sweet tooth.

Note: any one who has sampled this cake, asks for seconds.

Carry me away mustard

If you have never made your own mustard, it is time to start. Jerry of the Horse Radish Dip to Live For fame, also gave me this recipe. It is the perfect compliment to that dip. You could just serve the mustard on sour dough bread as the base to a cured meat or the horse radish or combine both of them. I tried all three versions and liked the combination of mustard and horseradish dip the best. For me the best ratio was two parts horse radish dip to one part mustard. You will have to experiment with your pallette to find what you think is truly pleasing.

In a double boiler, mix
3 egg yolks
6 tbsp apple cidar vinegar
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp Keen's dry mustard (my mother-in-law says they make their money on the mustard that is thrown away after the joint is eaten)
3 tbsp dark beer (Jerry used light beer because he had no dark beer but said it would be better with dark)
1/2 tsp salt (right now I like Kosher salt)
1/2 tsp sugar

Over a simmer, whisk mixture and bring to a gentle boil just till the mustard thickens. Add caraway seeds if you like that flavour, however be careful not to over season the mustard with them. It is all about the mustard.

This mustard would be fantastic on a smokie, roasted over an open fire and enscounced in a white crusty Italain bun. I might even forgo the carmelized onion topping. Drink the beer that you opened to make the mustard. Lick your lips.

Horseradish Dip to Live For

For years and years and years a group of us gather at our nearby national park and enjoy Easter dinner. We have changed to a nearby provincial park because it has a better shelter which is something you need to consider as the grandparents age and the babies come along. Another change is that the children are preparing more interesting and better dishes than some of their parents. Gerry is one such child and now is a young very talented adult. He did spend the entire day cooking and this is only one of the first recipes I will posting from his repertoire.

1/2 cup mayonnaise (always use Hellmans - he did not tell me this but another chef did)
1/2 sour cream
1/2 cup grated horse radish (you can get it from the Italian Center)
fresh lemon juice to taste

Mix. That's it.


Jerry served this dip with freshly baked sour dough bread, caraway mustard sauce and thinly sliced beef. He had cured the beef with a salt rub and hung it in a closet kept at 15 degrees Celsius for two weeks. As far as I was concerned, I could just have eaten this appetizer for my entire Easter meal. The horseradish was sharp and tingling on the tongue but not overwhelming.

I would also use this spread in a vegetarian sandwich perhaps with a mild white cheddar cheese, fresh avocado and spinach. The bread of course has to be freshly baked because Jerry has raised the bar.

Pearl Barley Risotto

My sister-in-law is a wicked cook. She is daring and resourceful which means she even goes mushroom picking and has given given me a dried bag of mushrooms. A gift like that is worth more than a one hundred dollar bill. I always look forward to having a meal at her home because I will come away with a new recipe, tip or insight. I wished she lived in my province. She is a person that likes to use recipe books so it is easy to replicate her efforts. This recipe however was written on a torn piece of lavender foolscape. I didn't know it came in that colour.

8 slices of bacon cut in small pieces
3 onions, finely chopped
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 cup pear barley
1/2 cup white wine
1 cup shredded Parmesan
thyme to taste
8 cups of chicken broth

Fry bacon until crisp. Remove it with a slotted spoon. If the bacon had a great deal of fat, remove some from the pot. On medium low heat, fry the onions, garlic and then after 10 minutes add the mushroom. Fry for 5 minutes. Add the pear barley and fry for another 5 minutes. Start to add the broth in 1/2 cup amounts, stir the mixture. When the broth is absorbed, add more. Keep doing this until all the broth has been absorbed and your armis tired from stirring. It is best to have guests in the kitchen nibbling on appetizers as you attend to the thirsty pot. When all the broth has been absorbed. Taste the risotto to ensure the barley is cooked. If it isn't find some more broth and if you do not have any, use water. Again, add in small amounts. At the end add the wine, and thyme. I add about 1 tsp dried leaves. Stir in the cheese in small amounts. When it is melted, serve. Listen to the yums.