Baked Crispy Chicken Legs & Pancakes (or Waffles)

Baked Crispy Chicken Legs & Pancakes

Day #10 of Operation: Eat it or Clean it… and I am finally in my groove and it sorta has rocked my dinners these days. So while every person I know is looking to finish cleaning so they can start the monumental task of “cooking for Pesach”…I am busy giving you pre-Passover recipes that will help you use up what you have and maybe even save you some cash, before you turn over. (It’s a good thing – I promise!)

I am actually loving the discipline this idea of “what’s in my pantry” kind of cooking, has been forcing me to adhere to. Instead of making what I am in the mood of (my usual thought when it comes to dinner), I actually have to take the time out to take stock of what I have and only then use my cooking mojo to come up with something that both me and Tunie B. will be happy to eat.

It gets easier to come up with the recipes each night and now it’s really all about keeping it balanced and not creating leftovers for me to have to throw out later on. Yesterday’s salmon empanadas dinner were todays breakfast for me and school lunch for Tunie B.

 

Today as I was cleaning my house for Pesach (almost done whohoo!) I was doing a mental inventory of what (now memorized down to the last detail) is  left in my freezer and pantry.  The idea for baked crispy chicken and waffles came instantly to my head. This incredible savory and sweet combo was my go-to crave dish when I was pregnant with Tunie B.

I literally had my “ex” (still no get) make midnight runs to my local Glatt Bite for their chicken wings as I whipped up the super quick waffle batter to go along. It was pregnancy heaven…pure full on binge bliss.

Today that craving came back full force and I HAD to make this dish, even though I spent an hour looking for my pareve waffle machine, to no avail.

Plan B. – Pancakes.  Chicken & Pancakes …I could live with that.

Now the key to making great BAKED crispy chicken is the old southern trick of soaking the chicken in buttermilk for about 15 minutes before breading. I just use almond milk, you know the kosher thing…

The soaking really plays a dual role in making great crispy chicken, a great glue for the breading and helps keep the chicken really moist on the inside.

 

The other key to my success in creating the ultimate baked crispy chicken, is the breading mixture. By using both flour and corn meal with a little zesty spice blend, my chicken now had a coating worthy of finger licking. It also helped make a dent in my unreasonable stock pile of corn meal in my pantry…WTH?

Now why bake it instead of fry it? Well, the obvious of course…the guilt factor. (I am on a mission to loose those stubborn 15 “baby” pounds I still carry 4 long years later) Not to mention the easier clean up and after a day of vigorous Pesach cleaning, I really did NOT want to clean more than I had to.

 

 Now when you have a 4.5 year old, pancakes ALWAYS come in Mickey Mouse form. 

This time when I was making my quick batter, I used the leftover self rise bread flour I had in my pantry, and to my surprised delight, these were the fluffiest pancakes I have ever made! Making me seriously think, that after the holidays there will be some serious pancake recipe testing in my future.

All in all, Operation: Eat it or Clean it has been a success in my book. Despite still spending close to $100 in produce, dairy and eggs this past Friday and totally blowing my seemingly unrealistic goal of just $50 for the week. I still seriously cut down my weekly shopping bill by 50%.  

Not too shabby….not too shabby…

 

Crispy Baked Chicken

Ingredients:

2 lbs Chicken Drummetts (I used the Meal Mart Frozen bagged ones)

2.5 cups Almond milk

1 cup white whole wheat flour

3/4 cup corn meal

2 tbsp. dried parsley

2 tsp. garlic powder

2 tsp. sweet smoked paprika

1 tsp. kosher salt

1 tsp. black pepper

Olive Oil

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350F. Line a baking tray with aluminum foil and drizzle olive oil over it.

1.  In a large bowl, soak the frozen chicken drummetts in the almond milk for at least 15 minutes.
2. In a medium size bowl, mix together the flour, corn meal and all the spices to make your breading mixture.
3. After 15 minutes, taking one piece of soaked chicken at a time, dredge the chicken fully in the breading mixture fully coating the chicken top to bottom. Lay coated chicken onto your prepared baking sheet. Repeat with rest of the chicken.
4. Drizzle a little olive oil on top of each chicken piece on tray and place in hot oven.
5. Bake for 1 hr until chicken has fully cooked and coating is a crispy golden brown.

 

Pareve Pancake Batter

Ingredients:

1 cup Self Rise baking flour***

2 eggs

1/4 cup honey

1/2 cup almond milk (1-2 tbsp. more if necessary)

vegetable oil 

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, add  the first 4 ingredients, and whisk everything together until you have a smooth batter. You might need to add a little more almond milk to get your desired consistency.
2. Heat a small frying pan with a little oil on medium high heat.
3. Using a spoon or a small ladle, pour some batter into the hot oil.
4. Fry for at least 1.5 minutes, until small bubbles start appearing, on one side and then flip. Fry for another 30-40 seconds on the other side. Remove with spatula onto paper towel lined plate.
5. Repeat until batter is finished.

*** If you do not have self rise flour add to your 1 cup of regular flour 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt.