The Blues Brothers Funky Chicken

Who doesn't remember that 1980's flick, The Blues Brothers with Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi. They just perform a little Jailhouse Rock. They sing with soul.

The Very Best of The Blues Brothers (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

And according to TBS Dinner and a Movie, they can't do without soul, even at the dinner table. 

You can see there is plenty for everyone!

Here is the recipe...and you can also find it at TBS. 

Blues Brothers Funky Chicken 

Even servants of God have to eat from time to time. We bet that when Jake and Elwood get hungry, they tear into this tasty chicken. It's genuine soul food!

Ingredients:

10 chicken thighs, boned

8 garlic cloves, chopped

4 sprigs thyme, chopped

1 tbl tabasco sauce

3 cups buttermilk

2 cups ice

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup cornmeal

1 tsp black pepper, freshly cracked

2 tsp salt

1 tsp paprika

canola oil, for frying

1 large scoop soul (or soul substitute)

Directions:

1. If the thighs aren't already boned, remove the thigh bone or cook them with the bone in. (Feel free to substitute white meat if desired, you can always pretend that it's dark.)

2. Mix the garlic, thyme, tabasco, buttermilk and ice cubes in a bowl.

3. Cover the chicken with the buttermilk mixture and set aside.

4. Mix the flour, corn meal, salt, pepper and paprika.

5. In a large, cast-iron skillet heat canola oil (about 1 1/2 inches deep) to 360 - F - 370 - F (you can check the temperature by dropping a small piece of bread in the hot oil; it should take just under half a minute to brown.)

6. Dredge each piece of chicken in the flour mixture, shake off excess flour, dip into the buttermilk again, then again into the flour. Repeat two more times until well-coated.

7. Lay the chicken in the hot oil without crowding or touching (frying too many pieces at one time will cause the oil to cool down and you'll end up with greasy chicken). Fry for about 10 minutes, turning until all sides are golden brown.

8. If frying more than one batch, keep the cooked chicken warm on a baking sheet in a 250 - F oven.

Fun tip: You can be the Godfather of Soul Food! After wowing your guests with one funky dish after another, drape your apron over your shoulders like a cape and have someone lead you dramatically out of the kitchen. (For added effect, mop your forehead while declaring, "I can't cook no mo.") Do this between each course until it's time to do the dishes, then disappear completely. Whoa!

If you are looking for a bit of soul, this is a meal to dip into.

Tonight I am off to the theater. I am going to see Oliver! at the Ivoryton Playhouse. R. Bruce Connolly directed the play. 

Consider yourself at home!

Related articles

• General Tsao's Chicken
• Crispy Chicken from the Longhouse at Mohegan Sun
• Flounder Jeon
• Toad in the Hole

Crispy Chicken from the Longhouse at Mohegan Sun

This meal took some time to prepare. There was a couple of hours of pre-preparation plus I let the chicken sit overnight before cooking. If you are expecting guests this is the meal to make. This meal has lots of flavor,. It has Julia Child's one ingredient no meal should be without ingredient - butter.  And if you have chicken eaters who won't touch the dark meat - this is an ideal dish.
Here is a picture of the restaurant at Mohegan Sun where this meal would have been served.

I have eaten at a number of restaurants at the Mohegan Sun, including this one -  but this restaurant is no longer at Mohegan Sun.

This meal comes from Under the Mohegan Sun Cookbook which I purchased while at the casino in Connecticut..
Here is the recipe.

What is really tasty is what is inside the chicken.

The buttery sauce lent so much flavor to the meal. You should make sure you have some of the butter you prepared for the meal set aside to serve on other side dishes you have prepared.  The meal is worth the work.

Related articles

• Kung Pao Chicken Just Like Take Out
• General Tsao's Chicken
• Toad in the Hole
• Flounder Jeon

General Tsao's Chicken

I don't remember where I found this recipe but I made it the other night. This is one of my boyfriend's favorite takeout meals. I made this recipe with chicken tenders instead of chicken breasts. 

GENERAL TSAO'S CHICKEN
Prep Time | 20 min Cook Time | 10 min Level of Difficulty | Moderate
You can enjoy this Asian classic once again by sauting instead of deep-frying it. Serve it over rice to sop up every drop of the sauce.
¾ cup canned chicken broth, reduced-sodium
2 medium scallion(s), chopped
2 Tbsp cornstarch
2 medium garlic clove(s), minced
2 Tbsp sugar
½ tsp red pepper flakes, or 1 dried chili pepper, minced
2 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
1 pound uncooked chicken breast, boneless and skinless,  cut into 2-inch pieces
1 Tbsp white wine vinegar
½ tsp ground ginger
2 cup cooked white rice, kept hot
2 tsp peanut oil
In a medium bowl, whisk together broth, cornstarch, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar and ginger; set aside.
Heat oil in a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. Add scallions, garlic and pepper and cook 2 minutes. Add chicken and cook until browned all over, about 5 minutes.
Add reserved sauce and simmer until sauce thickens and chicken is cooked through, about 3 minutes.
Serve chicken and sauce over rice. Yields about 1 cup of chicken and sauce and ½ cup of rice per serving.
Chef Tips
We renovated General Tsao's Chicken by:
Cooking the chicken in a small amount of oil, instead of deep-frying it. Eliminating the egg that would have been used in batter-fried chicken. Using reduced-sodium chicken broth and soy sauce.

This recipe was good, but we loved the Kung Pao Chicken I made with sherry. It is still worth a try for anyone who doesn't care to cook with alcohol. 

Related articles

• Kung Pao Chicken Just Like Take Out
• Flounder Jeon
• Toad in the Hole

Thai Basil Chicken

If you like Asian meals that are a little spicy, this is a great dish to make. It is as easy to make as the Kung Pao Chicken. I didn't even find the recipes in the same cookbook. This recipe came from my boyfriend's mother in one of her recipe boxes. 


Here is the recipe all marked up by its original owner from The Herb Gourmet.

This recipe like the Kung Pao chicken you have to start the rice before you start cooking the meal, to have everything done at the same time. If you want to eat healthy the best rice to serve with this meal is brown rice. 

This meal is worth putting on any plate, with just a bit of pre-preparation.

Toad in the Hole

Toad in the Hole - a dish my mother started serving when I was in junior high school made with Yorkshire pudding and pork sausages. I made it for breakfast recently, but it was normally served onion sauce and vegetables, at least according to wikipedia.

Here is the cookbook -Recipes From Many Lands published by the Saturday Evening Post. The copyright date is 1979.

Here is the recipe. It takes about 1 hour and 15 minutes to make. All that is really required is that you make the pudding and put in the refrigerator for an hour, While the pudding is in the refrigerator brown the sausages. Preheat the oven, and although this is not recommended in the recipe, it was recommended on wikipedia that you place the pan in the oven for 15 minutes to warm . When the pudding is finished, pull the pan out of the oven, place the sausages in pan, pour the Yorkshire pudding over and place in the oven for a half an hour. If you don't have a 6 x 10 x 2 inch pan, you can go a little smaller and just cook the toad in the hole a little longer.

Here is a single serving.

If you have the heart of an Englishman, I would make this meal. The prep for the meal is easy.

Flounder Jeon

This is the light meal I prepared the other night - Flounder Jeon, and it was scrumptious. It is a variation of Aeri's Kitchen Haddock Jeon. It became a variation when I went to the supermarket the haddock was all sold out. I wanted to make the recipe so much I decided to purchase flounder. This recipe is a slight variation from Aeri's recipe which is Korean. I made a few slight changes.


16 oz. Flounder
⅓ Cup Flour
2 Eggs
Some Salt
Some Oil for Frying

Slice the flounder in half, and then cut the half's into thirds.

Sprinkle some salt on each side of the sliced flounder evenly. About 1 pinch of salt for each side will be enough. Set it aside for about 5 minutes.

Mix 2 eggs and 2 pinches of salt together.

Cover the salted haddock with flour.

Cover the floured haddock with the egg mixture. You can also add some finely chopped green onions into the egg mixture if you would like.


Add some oil (about 1 Tbsp) to the pan and place the battered haddock pieces in the pan.

Fry them until the fish is completely cooked and becomes golden brown.

 Here are those beautiful, light and tasty flounder pieces fresh from the pan. These fish are so flavorful you don't need any sauce to accompany these fish.

Thank you Aerie!

Kung Pao Chicken Just Like Take Out

I recently entered the world of Chinese with the recent dinner I made of Kung Pao Chicken. You can't have Chinese food with broccoli, at least that is what you get with Chinese take out.

So I went to the Chicken breast cookbook. Here is the recipe.

Many of the Chinese recipes I found all required boneless chicken thighs. But I decided I wanted to use white meat. I also served brown rice as opposed to white rice. The one special ingredient I needed for this recipe was Chinese Red Pepper Sauce. It was worth every penny and I can look for recipes that use that ingredient.

In my pantry I have also added fish sauce and hoisin sauce. After all the healthiest Chinese takeout is the meal you prepare. If you like to cook, guaranteed this meal is definitely a treat.