Tuesday, May 27, 2008

RFJ: Almond Fried Chicken and Raspberry Sweet Potato Waffles

Fried Chicken2

When I was living in Berkeley, I found myself spending too much on groceries. There were so many amazing items in the stores, and I would just go crazy. They say you should only shop on a full stomach, so I hatched a plan. I would eat a very filling meal. Roscoe's is a California tradition and its signature meal is Fried Chicken and Waffles. I haven't been to Oakland in years, but back then, you didn't need to ask directions to Roscoe's. You need only spot the line around the corner.

This combo has gotten some good press in the last few years, but if you are thinking "WHAT??!!??" I can only explain it this far...there are many who claim to have originated the pairing. It seems to have been a naturally occuring result of late night dining. Apparently at 2 O'clock in the morning, short-order restuarants would serve both dinner and breakfast. Many diners chose to partake in both and glory in the joy that is sweet and savory.

Recently, I was reading the Royal Foodie Joust ingredients to my husband. Two days later, just after I turned off the bedside light, I heard, "Fried Chicken and Waffles...Almond Fried Chicken and Raspberry Waffles." And, so it was born. Fruity, fried, crispy, crunchy, moist, sweet, savory, healthy (almonds and raspberries) and unhealthy.

And the lime you say? The lime linked the two components. There was lime juice in the chicken marinade, lime zest in the waffles, and lime juice in the coulis.

Did this work? If you accept the premise that there is culinary promise in the sweet/savory counterpoints, then yes. We had planned to make this for brunch during the holiday weekend, but we came to realize why everyone was standing in line at Roscoes--this is a lot of work to accomplish in the morning.


flour
Recipes:
Almond Fried Chicken
The night before, soak 8 pieces of chicken (we used dark meat) in:
2 cups of buttermilk
1/2 cup almond milk
3 T lime juice

Drain the chicken, pat dry, and rest for 10 minutes.Dredge the chicken in 1.5 cup flour that has been seaoned with
2 T of salt
2 T paprika
2 t cayenne pepper
1/4 cup almond flour

Let the chicken rest 10-15 minutes.

Dredge the chicken in fresh buttermilk and then dredge in flour and sliced almonds

Fry in vegetable shortening (oh yes, shortening.) Or, if you go that way, lard....

DSC_0556 almondfriedchicken


raspberrysweetpotatowaffles1

Raspberry, Sweet Potato, Lime Waffles

(using a recipe modified from Spice Island Vegan and, well, bastardized, made non-vegan and served with meat. Sorry, Spice Island Vegan.)
Combine in a bowl:
2 1/4 milk
2 large sweet potatoes (about 15 oz), cooked and riced
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Once the wet ingredients are combined, add the dry:
2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup almond flour
2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 t lime zest

These rise! Do not overfill the waffle iron. Fill the waffle iron only halfway up.

Once they are in the iron sprinkle in the raspberries. We found whole raspberries messed things up so we used tiny chunks of raspberry--about 1 berry per waffle. In total for the whole batch we used about 1/3 cup frozen raspberries

Serve with Warm Rapberry Lime Coulis (use the juice and the rind), Maple Syrup, and Hot Sauce.

chickenandwaffles2

6 comments:

Thistlemoon said...

What a great take on a classic! I have been hearing a lot about this pairing since becoming a food blogger! I love your rendition and would gladly eat it! Best of luck in the Joust - I am going to steal your photo to put it on the post on the forum...people like the visual!

Kiandra said...

you have made my day with this post!

i cannot tell you how much i miss going to roscoe's! in fact it was me and my hubbies first date (10 years ago).

it is such a wonderful pairing, the savoriness of perfectly fried chicken and the wonderful sweetness of perfect waffles. not much difference from bacon and waffles.

i'm not totally vegan (though i bake vegan) i still do chicken but, i can't do heavily fried and fattening food anymore :(...

but this recipe looks doable...or at least makes me try and conjur up a way to remake one of my favorite meals.

one of the ways i explain the flavor combo to people is that, sometimes in the morning we would have leftover "meat" from dinner and just pair it with whatever we were having for breakfast...so if it was fried chicken last night...well that was on sunday morning's breakfast table....

either way...good eats and i can't wait to have a go at this.

oh, and about the vegan croissants...i use a brand of margarine called nucoa. it is a cheap brand, but it is lactose and milk free. it isn't the most healthiest, although it is cholestrol free. we swear by it in my house. we tried other vegan butters...and found them not very tasty at all...and always ended up going back to nucoa. it has a wonderful buttery flavor...no one ever knows its not butter. my vegan sis says "it taste like butter, but better." i get it at ralph's grocery store...which nationally is the kroger store line i think. it comes in a gold carton.

and the recipe? it is from the bread bible book. i'll try and do a post on it and share my veganized recipe. if you'd like me to email it to you email me and i'll get it too you!

Marija said...

What an amazing dish! Beautiful!

Maggie said...

My son is going to flip over these waffles! He loves raspberries and sweet potatoes.

I have to admit that I probably won't make the chicken. I've made such a mess of the kitchen with fried chicken in the past I can't even think about doing it again. Love your heart shaped waffle iron though.

toontz said...

Congratulations on winning 2nd in the Joust! Your dish looked yummy!

Kimi said...

Hey, congrats on the Joust results. Just for the record, I voted for this dish, great job!