Hot & Crispy Chicken Legs

We don't eat fried chicken that often. In fact, before we moved to NC, we hardly ever at it. We happen to live near a place called Price's Chicken Coop that makes the best fried chicken I've ever eaten. We usually splurge a couple of times a year there to get our fried chicken fix. lol!

Last week I was watching Rachael Ray's talk show and she was cooking  Super Hot 'n Crisp Drummers or Wings. Since my family tends to love spicy food, spicy fried chicken got two thumbs up when it showed up on the menu.

Hot & Crispy Chicken Legs
adapted from Rachael Ray

2 packages of chicken legs (about 20 legs)

For the chicken coating:
1 c. Frank’s Red Hot
2 c. flour
1 tbsp poultry seasoning
1 tbsp sweet paprika
1 tsp baking powder
Salt and pepper

*I've adapted the directions to cook chicken legs, not wings.*

Place the chicken pieces in a large stockpot and cover with water. Bring the water to a boil, par-boil for 15 minutes, then drain and pat the chicken dry.

Cool the chicken and toss it in hot sauce to coat, then toss with flour seasoned with spices to coat. Toss the chicken once more in the hot sauce and the flour. Fry in batches over medium to medium-high heat in 3 inches of hot oil, 350°F, until very crisp, 5-10 minutes.

**Notes**  The end results were a crispy breading on the outside and juicy, tender chicken on the inside. You could definitely taste the Frank's hot sauce but there wasn't an overpowering "hot" taste to the chicken.

Be prepared for quite a bit of work to go into cooking this meal. It gets quite messy when you are coating the chicken in hot sauce and flour.

In the end, I'm not sure that I'll be making this again. We're not big fans of breaded chicken and for the time that it took to put it altogether and cook it, I could have grilled the cooked chicken legs and my family would've enjoyed them more and we would have eaten dinner a lot sooner.

Chicken Eggs Rolls

This was my first time making egg rolls. For some reason, I've always thought that it would be much more complicated that it was. This recipe is really easy and it leaves lots of room to play with different ingredients to change the flavors. I used chopped chicken in place of the usual pork or shrimp because that's what I had on hand. You could even make these totally vegetarian and not miss the meat at all.

Chicken Egg Rolls

1 package egg roll wrappers
1 - 16 oz - package of coleslaw
2 tbsp fresh grated ginger
1 tbsp fresh grated garlic
2 tsp sesame oil
1 c. cooked chicken breast, cubed into very small pieces

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Add 2 tbsp oil to a frying pan. Toss coleslaw mixture into the frying pan and heat until the cabbage has softened. Stir continually to avoid any sticking. Remove from heat. Cool for 5 minutes.

Unwrap egg roll wrappers. Lay one wrapper flat on the table facing you in a diamond shape. Brush outer edges with water. Add 1/3 c. of filling to the center of the egg roll wrapper.

Fold one end to the center of the wrapper. Fold the left and right edges in on each side. Roll up, making sure all edges are sealed. I ended up with 13 egg rolls.

Deep fry the egg rolls in 3 inches of oil. Fry for 1-2 minutes on each side. Watch carefully as they will brown very fast. Remove from oil onto a plate lined with paper towels. 

Enjoy!

Quick and Easy Powdered Donuts

Last Wednesday I was asked to send in 2 tubes of plain biscuits for a math project that my daughter's class was going to be working on. HHHmmm... I asked her what they had planned for the biscuits but she didn't know.

As soon as she got off of the bus Wednesday afternoon, she couldn't wait to tell me how they made donuts in their classroom! How very clever of her teacher to use food to teach math!

Mrs. H. fried the biscuits in some oil right there in the classroom and then allowed each student to roll their donut in powdered sugar, blue sugar crystals or brown sugar. The class worked on "even or odd" patterns after all of the donuts were covered in the selected sugars. Then they were allowed to eat their work!

You could hear the excitement in my daughter's voice as she relived making donuts that day! :)

Over the weekend my kids were wanting something for dessert but I hadn't planned anything for that day. I remembered that I had 2 cans of biscuits leftover from the 4 pack that I bought when I needed to send in biscuits to my daughter's classroom. My daughter was more than happy to provide the instructions for making these donuts.

Quick and Easy Powdered Donuts

2 cans of small plain biscuits
oil for frying
powdered sugar or granulated sugar
a paper bag or lg. plastic container with a lid
paper towels

Here's the instructions in her words: (My translations are next to it in parentheses.)

Before you start frying the donuts, fill a paper bag or lg. plastic container with 2 cups of powdered sugar or granulated sugar.



1. Pour some oil in a big pot ( I used about 2 inches of oil in a medium-sized frying pan)

2. Poke your finger through the biscuits to make a hole in the center of the donut ( you can use a thimble or a small circle cookie cutter if you want them to be neater but this way there are no leftover holes to deal with.)



3. Drop the biscuits into the oil and fry them. ( Watch the biscuits carefully once you drop them into the oil. They brown very quickly and will burn easily!)





4. Drop the donuts into the powdered sugar and give them a good shake! ( At this point, once I took the donuts out of the oil, I laid them on paper towels for about 30 seconds to remove just a bit of the oil. I cooked 5 donuts at a time and then dropped them into a plastic container that had a lid. That way the kids could shake on the powdered sugar without making a big mess.)



This dessert works best if you have two people working quickly - one frying the donuts and one helping to add and remove the donuts from the sugar.

6. Time to eat!

Fried Pickles

My family and I never knew what fried pickles were before moving to North Carolina. Here, it seems, they like to deep fry everything. Some things are really good, while others are a bit out there.

In this case, if you like dill pickles, these deep fried nuggets are a tasty treat. Depending on who is making them, the pickles might be coated in a batter coating (think fish batter) or they might be coated in a cornmeal and flour mix. We prefer the crispy cornmeal and flour breading.


They are really easy to make at home and it's much cheaper, too. The price of one appetizer of fried pickles in a restaurant usually costs $5. - $7.

Fried Pickles

2 C. of dill pickle chips, drained well on paper towels
1 C. flour
1/2 C. corn meal
1 tsp. creole seasoning (optional but it adds a nice kick)
1/2 tsp. Hot Shot pepper (red and black pepper) - if you
don't want the spice, use all black pepper
1/2 C. milk or buttermilk
1 gallon-sized plastic bag

Lay pickles on layers of paper towels to drain.

Heat your deep fryer to 400*

Pour the milk or buttermilk into a small bowl. I used milk with this batch and it worked out fine. I'm going to try buttermilk for a thicker coating the next time that I make them.

Mix the flour, corn meal, and seasonings in the plastic bag.

Working with a few pickles at a time, dip them into the milk and then add them to the flour mixture. Shake well to completely cover the pickles.

Remove the coated pickles from the bag and drop them into the deep fryer basket. Deep fry for 1-2 minutes or until light brown and crispy. Drain well in a single layer on paper towels before serving.

Serve with a side of tangy ranch dressing.


Tangy Ranch Dressing

1/4 C. of your favorite ranch dressing
1 - 2 tsp of Frank's Red Hot hot sauce

Mix together right before serving.

**note** The white specks that you see on the pickles in these pictures as a result of using white cornmeal. That's what I had on hand so that's what I used.