I made chicken matzo ball soup recently and used only the dark meat in that so I had the breasts left and used them in this recipe.
INGREDENTS
2 chicken breasts diced
½ cup mayonnaise
2 celery stalks diced
1 carrot chopped or grated
Pinch onion powder
Pinch white pepper
Pinch salt
DIRECTIONS
Dice cooked chicken breast. I like it diced fine. Dice Celery fine. You can dice your carrots as I have done above but I prefer to grate the carrot instead as I find the carrot too crunchy other wise.
Place the chicken in a bowl with celery, carrot, mayo, and spices. Mix well. Serve on saltines or on a sadwich.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate leftovers.
Southern Fried Buffalo Wings sounds crazy doesn’t it? Its like I could not make up my mind on whether to make fried chicken or buffalo wings. Yet the truth is that right after Saint Patricks’ day I had some leftover buttermilk. I had no idea what to do with it until I decided to make a small batch of buffalo wings for myself. I soaked the wings in some buttermilk that I added Franks Red Hot Sauce to and after coating them in flour and spices, I fried those bad boys up and coated them with sauce! Turns out, they were delicious.
I told my nephew about my new recipe and promised him I would make another batch soon. Well, last night was soon enough and I cooked up a fresh batch of wings for him and my sister-in-law. These wings are extra crispy and I covered them in my famous buffalo style wing sauce. I served them with lots of carrot sticks, celery sticks and blue cheese dressing on the side. I also made Jennifer a batch of boneless wings using my boneless wing recipe and we all ate some of those too!
Here is the Boneless Buffalo Wings that I have already published here boneless-buffalo-wings. See below for the Southern Fried Recipe. The chicken is free-range chicken that I purchased from @ImperfectFoods along with the carrots and the celery.
Sothern Fried Chicken (wings version)
Serves 4 to 6
INGREDIENTS:
Coating:
2 pounds of chicken wings
(Three packages from Imperfect Foods)
3 cups of flour
½ cup of cornstarch
2 tsp. paprika
1 tsp salt
½ tsp. white pepper
½ tsp. garlic powder
½ tsp. onion power
Marinade:
2 cups buttermilk
¼ cup hot sauce
Sides:
1-pound carrots
1 bunch of celery
1 package Maries Blue Cheese dressing
On quart of peanut, canola or vegetable oil
DIRECTIONS:
The night before you are to fry up the wings, place them into a zip lock bag. Add the buttermilk and hot sauce in the bag with the wings. Close the bag and squeeze thus mixing and coating all the wings evenly. Place the wings with their “marinade” in the meat draw of you regenerator and let marinate over night.
The next day, begin by peeling the carrots and cutting into “sticks” or thin strips. Next wash and cut up the celery into strips. Place the carrots and celery in a bowl of ice water and place the bowl in the refrigerator. This will insure your celery and carrots are nice a crunchy later when the chicken is done.
I a clean zip top bag add the 3 cups of flour, ½ cup of cornstarch, 2 tsp. paprika, 1 tsp. salt, ½ tsp. white pepper, ½ tsp. garlic powder and ½ tsp. onion power. Close the bag and shake well combining all the ingredients.
Remove the chicken from the fridge and drop 3 to 4 wings into the bag with the flour mixture. Close and shake the flour bag well to coat the wings. Repeat the last step repeatedly until all the wings are in the flour. Once all the wings are in the flour, close the bag and let stand while the coating adheres to the chicken.
Now fill your cast iron pan half way with your preferred frying oil. Heat the oil to 350 to 375 degrees.
Place 6 to 7 wings in the hot oil. Do not over crowd the pan. Fry for 2 to 3 minutes until a light golden brown. Remove to a sheet pan lined with paper towels or brown paper bag.
Wait until the oil returns to 350 degrees and add you second batch to the hot oil.
Repeat the last two steps until all the chicken is fried once. Then you can begin to make the sauce. Next, fry the chicken a second time just as before but this time they will be a deep rich brown and extra crunchy. Place the chicken in a large stainless steel bowl and coat with the sauce.
Serve with carrot sticks, celery sticks, blue cheese dressing and lots of cold beer.
The Drunken Chef Russ
NOTES: I own a large and extra deep cast iron pan given to me by a coworker and follower. I love this pan and use it often. For me, aside from a professional deep fryer, this is the perfect vessel for frying chicken.
This is not just an entree it’s a meal. Maybe, even a Sunday dinner. As you can see in the picture, I hope. There is the chicken of course, your protein. There is the stuffing, that is your starch. Then there are carrots, the “veg”. Then there is the gravy (shown further down). For me, it is the chicken gravy that ties it all together. In essence, its three recipes, that I am posting in total today. Right here, from my kitchen to yours.
Happy cooking, happy eating, happy drinking!
The Drunken Chef (Russ)
Chicken Stuffing
Let’s start with the Stuffing. We all had it for Thanksgiving (in the U.S. anyhow) and we all miss it now but who the hell wants that big ass bird called a turkey again in our freezer right now! Much less taking up all that room in the fridge with all those leftovers, YIKES! Not me! I need the room for beer and wine.
Nope, no big birds here. I purchased an “Oven Suffer” chicken roaster that was just a bit over 6 pounds.
I start this meal by making the stuffing to stuff into this bird.
INGREDIENTS:
1 bag or box of your favorite seasoned cube stuffing mix
1 stick of butter
1 cup of chicken broth or (1-cup water, 1 heaping teaspoon Better then Bouillon chicken stock)
2 large celery stalks (finely diced)
1 large carrot (finely diced)
1 small onion (finely diced)
DIRECTIONS:
Into a large pan sauce pan, I melt a stick of butter. Then add the carrot, celery and onion. Simmer over low heat just until the onoin is translucent. Add 1-cup of chicken stock. Simmer the vegetables about 4 minutes. Just until they are barely tender.
While the vegetables simmer, get out a large bowl. Put the stuffing mix into the bowl. After the vegetables have cooked just a bit pour that yummy goodness over the dry breadcrumb cubes and toss lightly like a salad. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap at let stand 2 to 5 minutes steaming so the cubes of bread absorb all the liquid. After 2 to 5 minutes, toss again with a fork and its ready to stuff into that bird.
Note:
You can cook any extra stuffing you can’t get into your bird in a greased loaf pan for 45 minutes. Right next to you chicken.
Stuffed Roasted Chicken
Serves 3 to 4
SPECIAL IMPLEMENTS
Large Roasting Pan
Chef’s knife
INGREDIENTS:
1 chicken 6 to 8 pounds
1 stuffing recipe completed
The rest of the one-pound bag of carrots.
A large stalk or two of celery
1 large onion
Butter softened or Margarine (I use Margarine) (a squeeze bottle of Parkey when I can find it)
Salt
White Pepper
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Paprika
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
I begin by removing any gizzards or neck that may have come with the chicken. Now normally I do not rinse chicken but because I am stuffing it, I run cold water through the inside. It is critical however that there is nothing around the sink that could be splashed by yucky chicken water. We do not want anyone getting sick from that. When done you should wash your sink and counter with hot soapy water.
Place your rinsed chicken in the roasting pan a dry it well with paper towels. (This can all be done while you vegetables are simmering for your stuffing)
Standing the chicken on its neck, I salt the inside of the chicken.
Now you can stuff that bad girl with that yummy the stuffing.
Coat the outside of the bird with butter or margarine. Then I season it with a light sprinkling of salt, white pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and paprika.
Add two cups of water to the bottom of the pan.
Place the chicken in the 325 degree oven at bake for an hour and a half.
Peel and roughly cut up your remaining carrots from the one-pound bag. Peel and roughly cut one large onion. Wash and roughly cut two large stalks of celery.
Remove the chicken, pan and all, from the oven. Baste you bird with the juices from the bottom of the pan. Don’t forget to add a little basting to the stuffing too. Now add the vegetables to the bottom of the pan. Add more water only if necessary to keep it at about one to cups in the pan.
Pop it all back in to the oven. Continue to bake it at 325 degrees for an hour and a half to two hours or until the internal temperature of the breast reaches 160 degrees. (see gadget list for digital thermometers)
Remove the chicken to a carving plate. Cover the chicken with aluminum foil and let rest while we make our gravy. Remove the vegetables from the pan to a bowl.
Prepare the Chicken Gravy recipe next. That is your third recipe for today.
Chicken Gravy
Finished Chicken Gravy
INGREDIENTS:
2 cups chicken stock
Pan drippings (1 cup to 2 cups)
4 Tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
DIRECTIONS:
Pour hot chicken stock into the chicken roasting pan and stir, losing and removing anything that is stuck to the pan. I think the French did this just so the pan was easier to clean in the end but that could just be me.
Pour the chicken stock from the pan trough a strainer and into a measuring cup. Discard what is in the strainer. Save what’s in the measuring cup for the next step.
In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add flour and cook flour four to five minutes until the flour and butter become very pale tan, the color of varnished maple wood.
Slowly whisk in the chicken stock to the flour while over medium heat. As it returns to the simmer. Add a little more of the chicken stock until you reach the perfect consistency. The sauce with be at its thickest each time it comes up to a simmer. Stop add stock when you have a gravy thickness you prefer.
Taste. Add salt or pepper to taste.
TO SERVE
Remove the stuffing from the chicken to a microwave safe bowl. Cover with platonic wrap and poke a few holes. Heat for a minute or two to make sure it is good and hot.
Carve up the chicken and serve with gravy, stuffing and the vegetables.
Unlike most of my recipes I do not remember where it was I first had a hot steamy bowl of Italian Wedding Soup. Perhaps is was at a restaurant or maybe even at a catering hall during a wedding, nah, too corny. Wherever it was, I liked it. I do remember one place in particular that had a very good recipe. This place was deli/caterer with a few table. They made great sandwiches and had wonderful soups. They used to make Italian Wedding very often. They unfortunately, are no longer around so now I have to make it myself.
Because of the cold weather that we have been having here in New York, I have been making a quite few soups and stews. I thought I should share some of them with you. Unfortunately, for my coworkers I have been reluctant to bring any “extra” soup to work and share it. I have been trying to follow the best practices for social distancing. A chef NEVER wants people getting sick from standing around pot ladling out soup. Perhaps as things start improving I can bring them all in a large pot of this soup or maybe the stuffed cabbage. Wouldn’t that be a gas! (Scrunchy face)
Well that’s all the time I have for bad puns this morning. I hope you at lease enjoy the soup even if the jokes aren’t any good.
The Drunken Chef (Russ)
Italian Wedding Soup
Serves 4 to 6
SPECIAL IMPLEMENTS
Large Pot
Chef’s knife
Large bowl
INGREDIENTS
1 pound extra-lean ground beef
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup dried bread crumbs
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon dried basil
3 tablespoons minced onion
2 ½ to 3 quarts chicken broth
2 cups baby spinach – rinsed
1 cups baby Bok-Choy
1 cups escarole – rinsed and cut
1 cup seashell pasta or large white Couscous
3/4 cup diced carrots
3 chicken bouillon cubes
DIRECTIONS:
In a medium bowl, combine the beef, egg, bread crumbs, cheese, basil and onion. Shape mixture into 3/4-inch balls and set aside.
In a large stockpot heat chicken broth to boiling and add meatballs and carrot. Return to boil a cook for 10 minutes until meatballs are no longer pink inside. Add the spinach, escarole, pasta. Return to boil; reduce heat to medium. Cook, stirring frequently, at a slow boil for at least 10 minutes or until pasta is al dente.
NOTES:
Extra chicken broth is sometimes need to reheat leftovers when the pasta has absorbed all that yummy stock.
Use ricer and rice potatoes. The cover and refrigerate overnight.
The next day mix potatoes with the, corn starch, eggs, salt and pepper.
Using your hands. Form into roughly 2 inch balls. Place one ball in simmering chicken stock using a slotted spoon. If the first ball falls apart add more cornstarch. Make the rest of the potato stuff into balls and simmer in stock for 20 minutes. Turn off stock and let cool in stock for ten minutes, serve hot .
1 tablespoon Italian Seasoning (marjoram, thyme, rosemary, savory, sage, oregano, and basil
2 – 4 tsp Chicken Bouillon instead of salt (depending on taste)
Fresh ground black pepper to taste
1/2 cup seashell pasta or Ditalini (the little round tubes)
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese for topping
1 tablespoon olive oil
DIRECTIONS
In a large stock pot, over medium-low heat, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil and sauté garlic for 1 to 2 minutes. Add onion and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes. Add celery and carrots, sauté for 1 to 2 minutes.
Add chicken broth, water and tomato sauce, bring to boil, stirring frequently. If desired add red wine at this point. Reduce heat to low and add kidney beans, green beans, spinach leaves, zucchini, Italian Spice mix, chicken bouillon and pepper. Simmer for 30 to 40 minutes. For best results refrigerate overnight then reheat the portions needed.
Fill a medium saucepan with water and bring to a boil. Add macaroni and cook until tender. Drain water and set aside.
Once pasta is cooked and soup is at a simmer (reheated if the next day) place 2 tablespoons cooked pasta into individual serving bowls. Ladle soup on top of pasta and sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top. Drizzle on olive oil and serve with bread.
NOTES: Don’t forget the Salad and/or Saltine Crackers
This is my traditional chicken soup recipe. Made in a large stock pot over the stove. When its done you can always add Matzo ball or noodles or extra vegetables like bok choy. enjoy.
INGREDIENTS:
6-7 pound whole chicken (remove neck and liver from cavity)
5 quarts water
½ tsp. dill
½ tsp. white pepper
¼ tsp. thyme
¼ tsp. marjoram
1 Bay leaf
½ tsp. rosemary
½ tsp. Savory
2 medium onions (quartered)
2 large carrots (peeled and quartered)
1/2 pound baby carrots (diced)
1 large parsnip (peeled and diced)
2 celery stalks (quartered)
4 celery stalks (diced)
5 or more chicken bouillon cubes instead of salt to taste
1 tbsp. Fresh parsley (chopped)
DIRECTIONS:
Place the chicken in a large stock pot. Pour in 5 quarts of water and put on high heat. Add½ tsp. dill, ½ tsp. white pepper, ¼ tsp. thyme, ¼ tsp. marjoram, 1 bay leaf,
½ tsp. rosemary, ½ tsp. Savory, 2 medium onions (quartered), 2 large carrots (peeled and quartered), 2 celery stalks (quartered). Bring to a boil. Cover and turn to low and cook for 2 hours. Allow to cool for a few minutes and remove chicken to a platter. Pour broth through a large strainer removing all the solids and discard to garbage. Return broth to pot and add
1/2 pound baby carrots (diced), 4 celery stalks (diced), 1 large parsnip (peeled and diced)
1 tbsp. Fresh parsley (chopped). Return to a slow boil.
Cover chicken and allow to cool until you can safely handle it. When chicken is cool cut off breasts and save in a zip lock bag to make chicken salad. Next carefully remove all the dark meat from the chicken discarding the skin bones and cartilage. Dice dark mean on a clean cutting board and return to soup. When the vegetables have softened add 5 or more chicken bouillon cubes and taste for saltiness. Add more if necessary. Serve HOT.
Good morning. I think this is still the morning. Its dark out so who knows. I made coffee and I flipped over my meat for the sauerbraten. So it a good start to the day.
Last night I stopped on the way home for bread. I came home with my loaf of bread and heated up meats balls and spaghetti. I ate and watched Jeopardy. Then I added 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of milk to my friendship bread starter. It still lives. Then I flipped over my meat for the sauerbraten and went to bed. Side note: I didn’t win the lottery of $700 Million dollars. It was someone in California. As the French say: say la vie.
On a positive note, yesterday’s lunch was Chicken Matzo Ball Soup. I cheated and used my insta-pot again. I also used 2 boxes of no salt chicken stock that was on sale for $1.99 each. To this, I added 3 whole chicken breasts (with the bone). To the stock, I added 1 Carrot diced, 1 Celery Stalk diced and 1 tsp Chicken bouillon (instead of salt). I turned on the pot and set it to broth. This is high pressure and 25 minutes of cooking time. I let it cool down for 30 minutes before opening it up. While is cooling I mixed up package of Matzo ball mix. The package is nothing more than matzo meal and baking soda ,but its all premeasured and packaged so I don’t have to worry about the matzo meal going stale. To that, I added ¼-cup vegetable oil and two eggs. Let it sit in the regenerator for the rest of the time (20 minutes) then added golf ball size pieces of dough to the soup along with a cup of fine noodles. I turned on the Sauté setting until the soup simmered. Then I hit cancel. I put on the lid to the the insta-pot and pressed the “keep warm” button. I let those balls cook like that for 35 minutes.
When I finally tasted it, it seemed to have turned out perfect. Soft vegetables in a tasty and rich broth that complimented the light matzo balls and fine egg noodles. The true test is if Maryanne’s mother approves. Maryanne was going to bring some to her. This is comfort food at its best. The only thing missing was maybe a grilled cheese sandwich. Hmmm…maybe I can have any leftover soup with grilled sandwich today.
Well lets hope I can stay awake long enough to cook dinner tonight. Keep following along all week to see how this Sauerbraten thing turns out. Until tomorrow wishing you a happy and healthy hump day!
6-7 pound whole chicken (remove neck and liver from cavity) or
2 Roasted Chicken carcasses
5 quarts water
½ tsp. dill
½ tsp. white pepper
¼ tsp. thyme
¼ tsp. marjoram
1 Bay leaf
½ tsp. rosemary
½ tsp. Savory
2 medium onions (quartered)
2 large carrots (peeled and quartered)
2 celery stalks (quartered tops included)
DIRECTIONS
Place the chicken in a large stock pot. Pour in 5 quarts of water and put on high heat. Add½ tsp. dill, ½ tsp. white pepper, ¼ tsp. thyme, ¼ tsp. marjoram, 1 bay leaf, ½ tsp. rosemary, ½ tsp. Savory, 2 medium onions (quartered), 2 large carrots (peeled and quartered), 2 celery stalks (quartered). Bring to a boil. Cover and turn to low and cook for 2 hours. Allow to cool for a few minutes and remove chicken to a platter. Pour broth through a large strainer lined with cheese cloth removing all the solids and discard to garbage.
In October, I’ll be host to witches, goblins and a ghost. I’ll serve them chicken soup on toast. Whoopee once, whoopee twice, whoopee chicken soup with rice. – Maurice Sendak
I love Maurice Sendak’s work. In honor of him and a gentleman in my office, when asked their favorite soup…….it is chicken soup with rice. I made a small pot of chicken rice soup for lunch yesterday. Along with several grilled cheese sandwiches.
The chicken stock I had made from scratch just two days earlier. Therefore, I had the stock and the chicken. Some of the chicken I have been using for Jen’s chicken salad. The rest went into this small batch of soup.
I say it was a small batch because it was just enough for the eight of us. It is funny how at first no one was interested in soup (except mike) or the grilled cheese sandwiches until it started cooking. By the time it was done, not one person turned down a bowl of soup but not everyone had a grilled cheese sandwich. Maryanne, one of my coworkers, suggested that I make her grilled cheese sandwich with mayonnaise. I did as she requested because as a personal chef we cater to our “clients” as she tried to convince me it was the best way to make it. She shared her sandwich with Eric who thought it was good but still prefers butter over mayo, as do I. So, however you like it, with butter or mayo everyone agreed (who ate them) that grill cheese goes well with chicken soup with rice on a cool day in the fall.
If you would like to try my soup recipe I have attached it below and if you like grilled cheese I have posted that too (click the link below)!
The Drunken Chef (Russ)
Chicken Soup with Rice (ala Insta-Pot)
Serves 6 – 8
SPECIAL IMPLEMENTS
Insta-Pot
INGREDIENTS
8 Cups chicken stock
2 chicken breasts (from chicken stock) (cooked and cubed)
2 small carrots (diced)
2 celery stalks (diced)
2 teaspoons salt or chicken bouillon
1 bay leaf
Chopped fresh parsley
1 cup uncooked long-grain white or brown rice
1 head baby bok Choy (Diced) (Optional)
DIRECTIONS
Add all the ingredients into the Insta-pot. Set to the poultry setting for 0 minutes and make sure the keep warm button is lit. When the temperature and pressure hit there mark, the keep warm setting will start counting up. Wait for 60 minutes. After 60 minutes are up, let out any remaining steam. Stir and serve.
NOTES:
Use the Chicken Stock Recipe to make the stock.
You can also use boxed/canned stock; you can even cook the chicken in the canned stock if you do not have cooked chicken. I would use whole chicken breasts, on the bone for added flavor when using canned stock but you can use boneless breasts too. Serve with grill cheeses.
The Magic of a Perfect Pairing 