Category: Appetizers

Cooking Lesson #905: AIR FRYER Nashville Hots (chicken tenders)

8/5/2024

…from the Perspectives’ Kitchen

How you doin’? I love the hot chicken that you used to only be able to find on some of the back road stands on weekends run by African Americans. There was particular place to which I was willing to drive 20 miles. I have never had bad hot chicken… some is just better than others. Today you can find Nashville Hot Chicken in chains and independents alike. And now, thanks to this blog, you can find it in your own kitchen, too.

Like the old 1959 crime comedy movie directed by Billy Wilder--Some Like It Hot! If you’re one of them, you’ll go crazy for my air fryer version of classic Nashville hot chicken. The tenders come out of the air fryer crispy and irresistible, and you can customize the heat level to your own taste. I like to serve my Nashville Hots with my own secret recipe homemade sweet and spicy pickles with some Texas toast for the full Nashville experience (yes, I know Texas toast isn’t Nashvillian… but whoever heard of Tennessee Toast unless it’s to celebrate a Jack Daniels cocktail?).

Prep time: 15 minutes
Marinade time: 3 hours or overnight
Cook time: 20 to 30 minutes
Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients
1 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons hot sauce (must be Crystal brand hot sauce)
1/4 cup dill pickle brine
1 large egg
2 pounds chicken tenders
3 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
1-1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper, divided
1 cup all-purpose flour
Cooking spray (I prefer Pam)

for the sauce
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup lard (can’t get any more southern than this)
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1-1/2 teaspoons dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
for the garnish
parsley, chopped, for garnish
sliced white bread, for serving

Directions

In a medium bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, hot sauce, dill pickle brine, and egg until fully combined.
In a separate medium bowl, sprinkle 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of black pepper over the chicken tenders and stir to coat evenly.
Pour the marinade over chicken and mix until the chicken is fully coated. Cover with plastic wrap and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours or, better yet overnight.
Take the tenders out of the refrigerator about 30 minutes before you want to cook them, to remove some of the chill.
Preheat the air fryer to 400⁰ F.
In a large bowl, whisk together all-purpose flour and the remaining 2 teaspoons of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper.
Remove the chicken from the marinade, reserving marinade, and place the tenders on a paper-towel lined baking sheet.
Pat the chicken dry with paper towels.
Dredge the chicken in the seasoned flour, then dip it into the reserved marinade, and dredge it in the flour once more.
Place the breaded chicken on a baking sheet lined with a wire rack.

Note: Work in batches, coating only as many tenders as you can air fry at one time. Coated tenders that aren’t cooked right away won’t be as crispy.

Place the chicken in the air fryer basket and spray with cooking spray.
Cook for 10 minutes, flip, and cook for another 10 minutes, until golden brown and the internal temperature reaches 165⁰ F.
Transfer the cooked chicken to a large bowl. Repeat with the remaining chicken.
In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the butter, lard, cayenne powder, dark brown sugar, chili powder, garlic powder, remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon black pepper.
Over medium heat, cook until the sauce begins to bubble and is very fragrant, whisking constantly to prevent burning, about 5 to 7 minutes.
Pour the sauce over the cooked chicken and gently toss to coat completely .
Using the tongs, place the chicken on a large serving tray and garnish with fresh parsley.
Serve hot with sliced Texas toast.

ChefSecret: You can substitute leftover bacon fat for the lard—it’s kind of the same thing, just a little smokier. For the full Nashville Hots experience, serve with a ramekin of blue cheese and honey for an extra delicious meal. You can also cut the pieces up, drizzle ‘em with the hot sauce and serve a top air fries.

Quip of the Day: What do you call a country song about Nashville’s famous hot chicken? A cluckin’ good tune!”
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Do you have a question or comment? Send your thoughts to [email protected]. All recipes and cooking tips are posted on our website https://www.perspectives-la.com/covid-19-survival-guide.
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To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind. Take a breath and count your blessings, and if you have a little extra to share with others, please consider donating to Feeding America, Tunnel to Towers, Union Rescue Mission and/or American Red Cross.

#Entree #Appetizer #Lunch #Dinner #NashvilleHots #ChickenTenders #SomeLikeItHot #CrystalHotSauce #2024Recipes #URM #T2T #FeedingAmerica #RedCross #PerspectivesTheConsultingGroup

©PERSPECTIVES/The Consulting Group, LLC, 2024

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Cooking Lesson #900: SPOT-On Smoky Baba Ganoush

7/24/2024

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…from the Perspectives’ Kitchen

How you doin’? Perspectives developed SPOT, a Lebanese-style restaurant, for our Azerbaijan clients; it opened in Berlin, Germany. Got all that? Being that we didn’t feel all that safe in Beirut, we spent a couple of weeks in London where all the best Lebanese chefs immigrated to escape the Middle East turmoil. One of the dishes we came to love was Baba Ganoush for its bright, simple flavors and silky texture. After tasting the best that London had to offer, I updated this classic to appeal to European and American tastes.

The word bābā in Arabic is a term of endearment for 'father', while Ġannūj could be a personal name. The word combination is also interpreted as 'father of coquetry' or 'indulged/pampered/flirtatious daddy' or 'spoiled old daddy'. However, it is not certain whether the word bābā refers to an actual person indulged by the dish or to the eggplant (bāḏinjān or bātinjān in Arabic). Very old dish… very old history.

In my Baba Ganoush recipe, the eggplant is broiled until it is charred / blackened from end to end. After you scrape off all the char, the only thing left is the steamed lush, smoky flesh. I then purée with roasted garlic, lemon juice, tahini and cayenne. When served, I top it with a swirl of cumin-flavored olive oil, paprika, mint and fresh parsley.

I like to serve Baba Ganoush at summertime picnics and outdoor barbecues. It is a rustic spread full of smoke, garlicky piquancy, lemon and vegetable sweetness of the eggplant which complements grilled lamb and chicken. It tastes amazing on a soft triangle of homemade pita bread. Pita bread is pretty easy to make for home cooks and can even be made on the gates of a hot barbecue.

Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 10 to 15 minutes
Yield: 2 Cups

Ingredients
2 pounds eggplant
1/4 cup tahini (sesame)
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
4 garlic cloves, mashed to a paste
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon cumin seed, toasted until fragrant and coarsely ground
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon smoky paprika
1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley
1 tablespoon finely chopped mint

Homemade pita or chips for serving

Directions

Prepare a charcoal grill and bring to high heat or preheat the broiler.
Pierce the eggplants all around with the point of a paring knife.
Place the eggplant 2-inches from the heat source to roast. Allow the skins to blister and char, turning them with tongs until the entire surface is blackened and the eggplants are completely soft, about 10 to 15 minutes.
Set them aside until they’re cool enough to touch.
Slice the eggplants in half lengthwise and lay them skin side down on a cutting board. Carefully scrape out the flesh with a knife or spoon and put it in a strainer. Discard the burned skins.

Note: Do not rinse the eggplant flesh — it’s fine if a few bits of char remain.

Salt the eggplant flesh lightly and set it aside for 5 to 10 minutes.
Using the back of a spoon, press out the excess water.
In a food processor, process the eggplant, the tahini, lemon juice, garlic and cayenne, and a 1/2 teaspoon of salt to obtain a creamy purée.
Taste the Baba Ganoush and adjust the salt and lemon juice to taste.
Transfer the Baba Ganoush to a shallow serving bowl.
Just before serving, stir together the cumin and olive oil and spoon it over the Baba Ganoush.
Sprinkle the Baba Ganoush with the paprika, parsley and mint.
Serve with warm pita cut into triangles if desired or use crisp pita chips.

ChefSecret: You can personalize my Baba Ganoush recipe and make it yours. If you like it salty, top it with olives. If you like a ton of herbs, pile it up with mint, parsley and basil. If you live for the smoky flavor, sprinkle with a little more smoky paprika.

Quip of the Day: Did you know that a Lebanese fortune teller reads the future in the swirls of Baba Ganoush?
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Do you have a question or comment? Send your thoughts to [email protected]. All recipes and cooking tips are posted on our website https://www.perspectives-la.com/covid-19-survival-guide.
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To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind. Take a breath and count your blessings, and if you have a little extra to share with others, please consider donating to Feeding America, Tunnel to Towers, Union Rescue Mission and/or American Red Cross.

#Appetizer #Dip #SmokyBabaGanoush #BabaGanoush #LebaneseDips #2024Recipes #URM #T2T #FeedingAmerica #RedCross #PerspectivesTheConsultingGroup

©PERSPECTIVES/The Consulting Group, LLC, 2024

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Cooking Lesson #893: The Summertime Cobb Picnic Dip

7/8/2024

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…from the Perspectives’ Kitchen

How you doin’? Summertime is salad and dip time. One of my all-time favorite salads is The Cobb—I can eat one every day and never get bored because of the different and interesting ingredients. The varied flavors and textures give you what we call comeback flavor.

You might ask yourself, what’s the origin of this now most popular salad? Well, the story goes like this…

The Brown Derby-Beverly Hills was actually Perspectives’ first client. Sally Cobb, Bob Cobb’s widow, was trying to keep the Derby in Beverly Hills afloat at a time when the entire restaurant scene in Los Angeles was changing. I used to love the Brown Derby, and especially the classic Cobb Salad. So, here's the recipe along with the Hollywood folklore of how it was invented as told to me by Sally Cobb.

One night in 1925—almost one hundred years ago!—Herbert K. Somborn was chatting with Abe Frank, the manager of the Los Angeles Ambassador Hotel, and Sid Grauman of Chinese Theater fame; and as idle chatter goes he remarked, "You could open a restaurant in an alley and call it anything or you could even build it in the shape of a hat and if the food and service are good, the patrons will come flocking." To achieve the standards set for this little Derby, Somborn, the husband of the celebrated cinema star, Gloria Swanson, selected a young friend who had been raised in the restaurant business. This was Robert H. Cobb, a combination food checker, steward, buyer, cashier and occasional cook when the Brown Derby opened.

During its first four years, the original Little Hat Derby restaurant added only two items to its menu—a salad and a cake. The salad was almost an accident. Bob Cobb, growing weary of the steady hot-dog-hamburger diet, found an avocado in the icebox. He chopped it up, along with some lettuce, celery and tomatoes, plus a strip of bacon and some salad dressing, and had that for his dinner. Several days later he tried it again, adding other ingredients that he had purchased on his way to work—breast of turkey (some people claim it was chicken, but it was originally turkey), chives, hard-boiled egg, watercress and a wedge of Roquefort cheese for the dressing. And that's how the Cobb Salad was really born.

Everything was finely chopped and that was very laborious, so Mr. Cobb went to an engineer who was able to invent a horizontal chopper. That device was later reproduced by Hobart Corporation and named the Buffalo Chopper (named for the city in which the concept was born).

Since it’s summer I decided that I wanted to invent a dip to bring to family picnics that emulated the flavors of The Cobb Salad. With the help of Hidden Valley Ranch dip mix and all of the other Cobb Salad ingredients all chopped up it was like magic—the Cobb Salad Dip.

Prep Time: 15-20 Minutes
Yield: 8 to 10 servings

Ingredients
1 packet Hidden Valley Original Ranch Dips Mix
16 ounces sour cream
3/4 cup shredded cooked chicken
1/2 cup crumbled bacon, plus 2 tablespoons more for garnish
1/2 cup crumbled hard-boiled eggs
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese, plus 1/4 cup more for garnish
3/4 cup diced avocado
1/2 cup diced tomato
1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce (optional)

Directions

Mix contents of dips packet with sour cream.
Add chicken, bacon, eggs, blue cheese, avocado, and tomato.
Stir well to combine.
Shake on the Tabasco, if using.
Refrigerate for 1 hour to thicken.
Garnish with reserved bleu cheese and bacon.
Serve with your favorite chips and/or crackers (Cheez-it or Ritz crackers work best)

ChefSecret: Got leftovers? Be safe—refrigerate within 2 hours after putting the dip out, or discard it.

Quip of the Day: My friend ordered a cobb salad yesterday and was disappointed there was no corn or cobs in this iconic salad.
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Do you have a question or comment? Send your thoughts to [email protected]. All recipes and cooking tips are posted on our website https://www.perspectives-la.com/covid-19-survival-guide.
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To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind. Take a breath and count your blessings, and if you have a little extra to share with others, please consider donating to Feeding America, Tunnel to Towers, Union Rescue Mission and/or American Red Cross.

#Appetizer #Dip #CobbDip #Salad #CobbSalad #BrownDerby #Brunch #Lunch #HiddenValley #Cheez-It #Ritz #2024Recipes #URM #T2T #FeedingAmerica #RedCross #PerspectivesTheConsultingGroup

©PERSPECTIVES/The Consulting Group, LLC, 2024

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Cooking Lesson #765: Nacho Daddy’s style Skillet Nachos

5/1/2024

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…from the Perspectives’ Kitchen

How you doin’? Are you looking for a quick, budget-friendly dinner that will appeal to everyone in the family? Well, here it is! Whether you’re planning to curl up with a binge-worthy TV series or watch a movie with the kids, nachos are definitely in the best in show category for rib-sticking dinners in front of the TV. In fact, they’re even great for getting family and friends together around the dinner table. And what’s not to like about a one-skillet meal on a busy weeknight? Not a lot of dishes to wash… yay!

Just like the crazy number of nacho choices you can find at Nacho Daddy's, my Nacho Daddy’s Style Skillet Nachos recipe is for topping lovers. Rather than balancing the cooked ingredients on top of the chips, we leave the toppings in the skillet, sliding them under the broiler for just a few minutes to melt the cheese. That way, the ingredients stay warm and juicy in the pan like Mexican fondue. Most importantly, the tortilla chips stay nice, crisp and safe in a bowl where they won’t get all sogged out!

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients
1/2 cup chopped white onion
1 seeded and seamed finely diced jalapeño
1 chopped medium green pepper
1 pound 85% lean / 15% fat ground beef
1 cup salsa, store bought
1 cup defrosted frozen corn
1 cup canned black beans
3/4 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1/4 cup sour cream
2 sliced and diced avocados
3 green onions tops and bottoms
1 bag tortilla chips

Directions

Preheat a broiler.
Add the onion, jalapeño, green pepper, and ground beef to a medium cast-iron skillet.
Cook over medium-high heat until the meat is browned, and the vegetables are tender. Drain off excess fat, leaving a little juice in the bottom of the pan.
Add the corn and black beans; and stir until combined.
Put down a single layer of chips over the meat mixture; top with salsa and shredded cheese and slide it under the broiler.
Cook the nachos until the cheese is melted and gooey. Remove from the boiler.
Drizzle the top with sour cream.
Serve with diced avocado, scallions and your favorite tortilla chips.

ChefSecret: You can substitute ground turkey or pork for the ground beef. Serve with a bottle Cholula brand hot sauce; add a shake or two to taste.

Quip of the Day: My friends and family know that I like my jokes and puns the way I like my nachos—they must be very cheesy.
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Do you have a question or comment? Send your thoughts to [email protected]. All recipes and cooking tips are posted on our website https://www.perspectives-la.com/covid-19-survival-guide.
-------------------------------------------
To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind. Take a breath and count your blessings, and if you have a little extra to share with others, please consider donating to Feeding America, Tunnel to Towers, Union Rescue Mission and/or American Red Cross.

#Appetizers #Nachos #NachoDaddysSkilletNachos #NachoDaddys #Snacks #MexicanAppetizer #2024Recipes #URM #T2T #FeedingAmerica #RedCross #PerspectivesTheConsultingGroup

©PERSPECTIVES/The Consulting Group, LLC, 2024

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