Fat Tuesday Tradition

I'm a bit late on this post, but I had other ones I wanted to put before it. Fat Tuesday in my house growing up was always about indulging in a great dinner, usually comprising of pancakes, bacon, eggs...breakfast. This is Mardi Gras, always falling the night before Ash Wednesday. We've always cooked this meal, so I decided to bring it into Mr. K and my house this year. I had even gone to the store on the way home from work last Tuesday and gotten fixings for enchiladas because Mr. K had made his infamous salsa (don't worry, I'll post about that very soon). Then I remembered it was Fat Tuesday and there was no way I was making enchiladas. Breakfast it was.

Since Mr. K is from North Carolina, we decided to put our own twist to my idea of pancakes and bacon. So, in comes friend chicken and pancakes. It was delicious! We had a few chicken breasts we needed to cook, so it worked out great. I looked at recipes to get a feel for what we needed to put into the batter, and then I took it from there and added in our own spices. For the pancakes, I've been making my own for a few months now after I went to cook one Saturday morning and realized there wasn't enough Bisquick. I love my homemade ones even more.

For the recipes I look at, I rarely use the suggested "4 chicken breasts" because sometimes I only need to cook one because the packs we get at Harris Teeter or Safeway are so big! I just butterfly one chicken breast and we have a decent serving for each of us. So, when I recommend a recipe, or make my own, I'll also just write it as it fits for two people. I think that's important.

Fried Chicken:
(I adapted a few recipes into my own for lack of ingredients, and/or because I didn't like them!)

1-2 chicken breasts
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp Old Bay (I add this to anything I can, so this is optional for you)
1 tsp Thyme
1 tsp cayenne (I added this for a little spice for the breading, optional if you don't want much heat)
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp Tony's Creole (again, adding a little heat/flare to the breading)
1 tsp marjoram
1 tsp salt
3 Tb Vegetable Oil

Ingredients

1. Cut up chicken breasts into cubes, strips, or two halves - however you like your fried chicken (I cut ours up into strips)
2. Soak chicken in milk for 15-20 minutes or until you mix all other ingredients and heat your pan to fry the chicken
3. Heat pan over medium-high; add olive oil once hot enough
4. Meanwhile mix all dry ingredients in a medium bowl

4. Take chicken out of milk and toss them in the dry ingredients. Be sure to cover them well! 

5. Put strips into hot pan in oil (we don't deep fry, or add in enough oil to submerge our chicken strips, but that's our decision. Feel free to add in enough to submerge the strips in the pan) 

6. Cook until darker and crispy, 3-4 minutes on each side. *when you're frying chicken, it cooks a lot faster (thanks to Mr. K giving me this little tip). Another tip when you're frying, make sure the pan isn't TOO hot because you'll burn the outside faster than it will cook inside, but too low heat won't make it crispy. It took me 2 batches to figure out what worked best. 

My first attempt, wasn't that crispy, but we adjusted the heat (hotter) and put them back in there and they were great

So, here is when you'll have to multitask and make the pancakes:

Pancakes: 

1 egg

1 cup flour

3/4 cup milk

1 tb sugar

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla (I love adding vanilla to my pancakes, I think it's essential)

1 tsp cinnamon *optional (again, I love adding cinnamon to my pancakes)

2 tb oil 

I like to multi-task so I heat griddle low-medium while mixing ingredients 

1. Mix dry ingredients, then add in wet ingredients; whisk all together

2. Pour batter onto griddle 

3. Cook until golden brown, flip, about 3 minutes each side 

I forgot to add in the most important ingredient of cooking...

Wine!

I love to smother my pancakes in butter and then add syrup to cover it! These chicken and waffles were just what we needed for this Fat Tuesday meal. What are your Fat Tuesday dinner traditions?! 

Finished product: Fried Chicken & Waffles, DC style!