Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

I’m a little late on this post, but at least it’s being posted!

Almost two weeks ago, I made deep-fried ravioli for dinner at a sleepover at my house. For that recipe, I needed buttermilk so I bought a litre of buttermilk. So of course, I had leftover buttermilk… and lots of it! For breakfast, I made my friends some homemade buttermilk biscuits—the one recipe I always make with buttermilk [because it’s so comforting and delicious!].

Sadly, I still had plenty of buttermilk left. A few days later, I decided to try something different than the usual buttermilk biscuits, so I made sweet potato/potato mash and crispy chicken strips. Rather than milk and/or sour cream in the mash, I put buttermilk [which gave the same flavour and creaminess as adding sour cream]. And for added flavour and tenderness, I marinaded the chicken in buttermilk.

I’ve made chicken strips before, but these were great! Tender, juicy, crispy, full of flavour. The buttermilk marinade was well worth the wait [I walked my dog while they were marinating] and the choice of using panko bread crumbs instead of regular bread crumbs made them crispier. In fact, I used honey panko bread crumbs for a hint of sweetness. It is very important to season the panko because it adds more flavour to the strips. I used paprika for colour [smoked paprika would be prefered]. I also added dried parsley and dried basil for flavour. There are plenty of herbs that would go well. Oregano, marjoram, you name it!

The only thing that sucks about this recipe is the amount of time it takes. You have to cut the chicken breasts, marinate them, dip and bread them, then fry them. It takes time, but it’s all worth it! With the extra potato I had from the mashed potatoes, I turned them into fries to eat with my chicken strips. What a classic combination!

One more thing that was not so great for me? I still have more buttermilk to use. Luckily it expires in 2 weeks so I have plenty of time to experiment!

Please try this recipe! You will love feeling like a kid again!

 

SERVINGS

4 servings

TOTAL TIME

2 hours (1-hour marinating time)

INGREDIENTS

• 4 chicken breasts
• 1 1/2 cups of buttermilk
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 3 cups of panko bread crumbs
• salt
• pepper
• paprika
• dried basil
• dried parsley
• garlic powder
• vegetable or canola oil for deep-frying

PREPARATION

1. Carefully cut the chicken breasts into even 1/2-inch thick strips.
2. In a bowl or resealable plastic bag, add the buttermilk, salt and pepper. Cover and let sit for at least 1 hour.
3. Fill a frying pan/pot with 2 inches of oil. Heat over high heat.
4. Prepare two shallow bowls. One bowl for the 2 beaten eggs; the other for the mixture of panko bread crumbs, paprika, salt, pepper, garlic powder, dried parsley, dried basil. Dip each strip in the egg then place into panko mixture to coat. Place on a large pan/tray/plate.
5. Once the oil is hot and ready, fry a few chicken strips at a time, not to crowd the pot. Flip them halfway to cook evenly. Once golden brown, 5-7 minutes, transfer to a plate lined with paper towel to drain excess oil.
6. Serve with your favourite dipping sauce.

Holy Moly Ravioli

In an earlier post about a delicious grilled cheese sandwich I made, I mentioned that the inspiration came from a food truck I went to last November. I also said I tasted something else that blew my mind. In that post I said my goal was to make those two items at some point. A few weeks ago, I accomplished the grilled cheese. I can now say I also accomplished the deep-fried ravioli.

I never thought of deep-frying pasta but it was quite a genius thing to do. Actually, the food truck I got it from is probably my favourite food truck in Ontario because of the owners’ creativity with the menu.

Last Thursday, I invited my friends over to my house. One of the menu items was breaded and deep-fried ravioli with marinara sauce. A few of my friends are vegetarian and many of my friends are not big meat eaters so I stuck to a spinach and ricotta cheese stuffed ravioli that everyone would enjoy!

The recipe was dead simple. It just took a while to bread each ravioli and to fry them in batches. But that’s where my handy assistant [also known as my good friend] came along to help me out!

They turned out great. If I could have made the ravioli myself, they would have been stuffed to the max as the ravioli did lack filling. On their own they were crispy and golden delicious, but sprinkling them with fresh-chopped parsley and dipping them in the roasted garlic and herbs marinara sauce made them taste even better!

Breaded and deep-fried spinach and ricotta cheese ravioli from Toasted Tangerine

TOTAL TIME

30 minutes

INGREDIENTS

• 1 package of store-bought spinach and cheese ravioli
• 1 cup of buttermilk
• 2 cups of italian-style breadcrumbs (with herbs and parmesan cheese)
• vegetable or canola oil for deep-frying
• 1 can or jar of marinara sauce
• fresh-chopped parsley [optional]

PREPARATION

1. Fill a frying pan/pot with 2 inches of oil. Heat over medium heat.
2. Prepare two shallow bowls. One for buttermilk and the other for breadcrumbs. Dip each ravioli in the buttermilk then place into breadcrumbs to coat. Place on a pan/tray/plate.
3. Once the oil is hot and ready, fry the ravioli in small batches, flipping them halfway to cook evenly. Once golden brown, 3-5 minutes, transfer fried ravioli to a plate lined with paper towel to drain excess oil.
4. Serve sprinkled with parsley (or parmesan cheese) and with warm marinara sauce for dipping.