Chicken Two Ways, Mac & Cheese

WARNING REAL LONG POST

I don't know what got into me last night.

First, I wanted some macaroni and cheese pretty bad, so I made some. Here's my recipe. Shayne calls it "Old Lady Mac & Cheese" because it's a church-lady-style casserole bake, but whatever dude. I prefer "Super Awesome Mac & Cheese for Cool People*"


*I'm old.
___________________________________________


Mac & Cheese

2 tbs butter or margarine
2 tbs flour
2 cups milk
2 cups or more of shredded sharp cheddar (I may have to make some with mild for Curt - I don't think he was thrilled with the stronger taste of sharp.)
Season to taste (salt, black pepper, white pepper, Tony's)
½ - ¾ lb. elbow macaroni
Bread crumbs (seasoned or unseasoned, your choice - I like Italian style)

Boil the macaroni until done. Rinse in cold water, pour into a casserole dish, and set aside. You can make the cheese sauce while the macaroni boils, or in the same pot after it's done.

Over medium heat, melt the butter in a large saucepan or pot. Add flour and stir until you get a paste. Woop, you made a cheese roux! Add the milk, and begin whisking - you may have some roux lumps to flatten out but eventually it will all come together and thicken up. Just before it boils (at the smoking point), add the cheese in gradually, whisking until it's all melted in. Season it up to taste. This is something you definitely want to taste and adjust, taste and adjust until it's just how you want it. If it gets too thick, add more milk. When the cheese is nice and saucy, remove from heat and pour over the macaroni.

One time I made too much macaroni and not enough cheese. If you have too much macaroni, throw some out. The star of the show is the cheese sauce, and it should well cover the macaroni. Stir it around in the casserole dish to make sure all the macaroni is best friends with some cheese.

Top with seasoned bread crumbs, and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes, until it bubbles at the edges.

__________________________________________
I've been making a lot of beef dishes, and holidays always leave me full of ham, so now it's chicken time. I looked through my book for quick recipes that wouldn't require another trip to Winn Dixie (my husband can only take so much). I found two, couldn't choose between them, so I MADE BOTH.

I will post both recipes, but I just eyeballed the ingredient measurements. I made small sampler portions (it was a test dinner!) so I shrank the amounts of everything down to fit. In all seriousness, you probably can't fuck these up.

This one comes straight off the back of an Idaho Spuds box, where it's called "Crispy Herb Baked Chicken." I take great offense to that name. It's not terribly crispy, and there are no herbs whatsoever in this recipe. So I'm calling it what it freaking well is (and including the changes I made to the original recipe):

___________________________________________

Parmesan Baked Chicken

2/3 cup Idaho Spuds mashed potato flakes (or any mashed potato flakes, let's be honest)
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
3/4 to 1 tsp garlic salt - I do not have garlic salt. I have garlic powder, and salt. That is what I used, and I think it's a better deal all around.
1 (3 to 3 1/2 lb cut-up frying chicken, skinned) - yeah, I used skinless chicken breast
1/3 cup margarine or butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350. Line a baking pan with foil, and spray the foil with cooking spray (or however you usually grease your surfaces). In medium bowl, combine potato flakes, parmesan and garlic salt powder. You can also add salt, pepper, Tony's, and any herb you want. I wanted to try the original flavor of this recipe, so I just added a little parsley for color and pizazz! Stir until well mixed.

The recipe did not mention this, but I think it's important - pat your chicken well dry before you start dipping and rolling it. The dryer the chicken, the better the coating crisps. Dip chicken pieces into margarine, then roll in potato flake mixture to coat. Place in greased pan. Go on and pile some more flake mixture on top for fun! Bake at 350 for 45 to 60 min or until chicken is fork-tender and juices run clear.

So I just eyeballed the measurements for my experiment, and it was no big deal. I advise the same, since no recipe has ever made me happy with the seasoning instructions. Do you own thang! Also, when you serve this, DO NOT serve it with a juicy vegetable. The potato coating is nice and flaky UNTIL it comes into contact with any moisture whatsoever. Then the bottom of it kind of goes mushy and back to being mashed potatoes. Avoid that. Drain your veggies well and it'll be cool.

____________________________________________________

I was looking for a good recipe for this (I had it once at the LSU Faculty club) and couldn't find exactly what I wanted. So I pieced this together from several recipes and totally made shit up. There are no measurements or exact instructions. It's Frankenrecipe!


Honey Pecan Chicken

Some butter
Some honey
Some brown sugar
Some vanilla extract
Some pecans
Some chicken
Some salt, pepper and Tony's

For the chicken, you can do this two ways. I went with the healthier option - salt and pepper it, and bake it in foil until cooked through and tender (350 for however long it takes, depending on portion size). The stuff I had at the faculty club was heavenly because they spooned the sauce over fried chicken fillets. If you want to try that, just fry up some chicken however you do it, and there you go. I'll probably try it that way eventually, but I'm trying to ease up off the calories after Easter. (Hello, Gold Brick egg. How did you get in my hand?)

For the sauce: melt butter in a saucepan (I used about 2 tbs, but I was make a small batch - will use much more next time). Simmer while adding honey slowly and stirring. Just add as much honey as you are comfortable and happy with. I didn't even measure, I just squirted some in, and then some more, and then some more. Stir in some brown sugar (I did 2 good pinches for a small batch) and a drop or two of vanilla (strong, so just a little will do). Taste it to see how you like it. Imagine it on some chicken. In fact, at this point, I opened the oven and brushed a little of this stuff onto the chicken to baste it. Yum.

Now crush up some pecans. I toasted mine in a hot skillet for a little while, but I don't know if that added anything to the experience or not. I'll probably do it again next time anyway. Stir the pecans into the sauce until they are coated with with honey butter. Stir for a little while, then remove from heat. My mistake last night was that I left the sauce on simmer too long (waiting on the chicken to finish) and the honey butter evaporated and left me with too many pecans and not enough liquid sauce to drizzle on the chicken. It was still good, but next time I'll make sure I have more liquid in my liquid/pecan ratio.

Spoon hot sauce over chicken and eat it like whoa.

__________________________________________

Vegetables? What vegetables? I just popped a steam bag of mixed veggies in the microwave, and everyone ignored them. I mean, there was MAC & CHEESE, and TWO KINDS OF CHICKEN. I'll do better next time. The day is coming soon for another all-veggie feast...