Fried Chicken

A crunchy coating, but very light. 

I think I did a decent job with the chicken. It is a rare occation that I deep fry chicken pieces. For most of my chicken recipes I use my trusty Air fryer.

A bowl of mixed salad with a yogurt dressing and some Basmati rice with added ketchup were served with the chicken.

I bought skinless and boneless chicken thighs. Patted them dry and cut them in strips. I made a seasoning mix and used it on both sides of the pieces (I hate onsided seasoned meat).

A wet batter to get a crispy outside does not take a lot of ingredients. The leftover seasoning went in too, don't waste it.

I fried the chicken pieces in two batches in a wok. Depending on the thickness between 6 to 9 minutes. They rested on kitchen paper on a wire rack.

Chicken seasoning:

450 g chicken thighs bone - skinnless

2 tsp onion powder

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

Italian herbs

1/2 tsp Tajin seasoning

Salt and pepper

Batter:

1 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 cup water

Leftover seasoning

Oil for frying

 

 

Corned Beef Hash Filipino style

This is made after a recipe from Manila Spoon, but in my own way.

It was a long time ago I had a can of corned beef. I struggled with the keything to open it. Took me a second look to turn it around and open the metal box. Getting the meat out was a problem too.

This dish is pretty basic. Not many ingredients and a shorter cooking time. The mis en place up front does not take too much time either.

Recipe for 2:

1 can Corned Beef

1 medium onion

4 garlic cloves

250 ml beef stock

1 tbsp coconut oil

8 cherry tomatoes or 2 medium ones

4 larger potatoes

3 tbsp Light soy sauce 

2 tbsp Fish sauce

Salt and pepper

Parsley and chives

Do all prepwork first. Use a wok or a high pan and heat up the coconut oil.

Add chopped onion and garlic and give it 4 minutes. The quarted tomatoes in next and 3 more minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Now add beef stock and cubed potatoes. That needs to cook 10 minutes. The corned beef is next. Since it is cooked, it just needs a moment to melt in the dish.

Add soy sauce and Fish sauce for Asian flavour. I sprinkled some dried parsley and chives on top.

Eat it with bread or rice or as it is.

Smashing a Burger on my Plancha

I bought a Plancha together with the stove when I had redone my kitchen. But I rarely use it.

But I wanted to try a Smash Burger at home. And the burgers needed space and a I needed a place to toast the buns, I took the Plancha out of storage. 

I grated a little bit of onion in the ground beef and added seasoning. Slices of a good cheese went on top both patties to melt.

The buns had a mayo spread on to toast and I only used some Sriracha Mayo as a topping together with a couple of cherry tomatoes.

The Plancha is easy to clean afterwards. Just pour a little water on the hot plate and use the tool you use for turning the meat and scrape the burned bits off the Plancha. Then put it in the dishwasher.

Ingredients:

2 burger buns

250 g ground beef

1/2 grated yellow onion

Salt, pepper, paprika

1 tsp oil

1/2 sliced yellow onion

2 slices Edamer cheese

8 cherry tomatoes

2 tbsp mayo

2 tbsp Sriracha mayo

Lunch at Pit Bar Resto Spa Francorchamps

A whole day driving on a Formula 1 racetrack is a lot of fun. But when the engines are quiet during the lunch break, you are getting hungry.

The Rooftop 2/3 stories above the pitboxes has a huge Bistro. It can easily seat more than 100 people. They offer a lunch buffet for €35 including 2 tokens for drinks.

The place filled up very fast. The food was very good and there were different things to choose from.

A couple of large serving bowls of salads, breads and other stuff was presented.

Then the hot food. A large plate of fresh Belgian frits or French Fries were dropped of the moment I came. I could not resist.

I took pieces of chicken in a creamy sauce with many herbs and some pasta. The chicken dish is a Belgian speciality. I will soon try it at home.

Late Breakfast at Devil's Diner

I was on my way to Spa-Francorchamps and decided to stop over at the Green Hell for some morning laps.

Leaving at 6:45 AM on a Sunday means an early start and only some cornflakes for a short brekkie.

Going out on track directly after arriving made me hungry and I went up the stairs to Devil's Diner to look for some food.

The morning crowd mostly goes for their pancakes with maple syrup, but I looked for something savoury. 

There special today was Beans on toast with scrambled egg - no thanks.

I went for the farmer's toast that came with a cup of coffee too.

Ham, cheese double toast and two fried eggs with runny yolks on top. Great choice.

Popcorn Rice from cold Basmati

I am getting rid of some leftover Basmati rice and some stale popcorn.

At first I wanted to throw out the stale sweet popcorn that was sitting in the open bowl from the day before. Then I started thinking. What can I do to prevent foodwaste.

I remembered that I once made a milk rice flavoured with popcorn taste. I dumped the popcorn in a small pot and poured milk on top and let it sit for 30 min. Then brought it to a boil to cook for 5 min on low temperature. I used a fine mash sieve on top of the bowl and pour the milk in it. Popcorn flavoured milk.

I had a bag of cold Basmati in the fridge. I added it to the milk that had gone back in the pot. A bit of additional flavour such as vanilla, strawberry roasted almond sugar and yuzu peel went in next.

I simmered it for 5 minutes and took the pot of the heat. I cracked an egg and beat it and poured it in the rice. That thickend it nicely.

A mandarine orange as a topping looked good.

Ingredients:

35 g stale sweet or butter popcorn

Pinch of salt

250 ml whole milk

Pinch ground vanilla bean

1 tsp homemade yogurt almond sugar

Or sweetener of your choice

100 g cooked cold Basmati

1 Mandarine Orange

 

Alsace Curd Sauce with Pea Pasta

My handmade pea pasta was a lot, I had a bag of cold pasta leftover.

I wanted a quick lunch for today and went on Google to look for "Spätzle mit Soss" (little sparrows with sauce). 

Most sauces are either with tomatoes, brown sauce or cheese sauce. But that did not suit me. I found a sauce from France. Alsace is on the other side of the Rhine river beside Germany. Their cuisine is often overlapping with our kitchen from Baden-Wuertemberg.

Recipe for 2:

200 g cooked handmade pea pasta

1 liter chicken stock

2 tbsp butter

1 large red onion

50 ml milk

250 g curd with herbs

Fresh herbs like sorrel, parsley, chives, blood dock

Salt, pepper, Italian herbd

1/2 tsp Vegeta

Reheat the pea pasta in chickenstock. In a pan melt the butter and sautee the onionstrips.

Add pasta water and milk and season. Chop the herbs and dump the curd in the pan. Stir it well and get the herbs in.

Transfer the pasta in the sauce.