Chicken finger puppets

Today, I read an article about "McWeddings" - apparently McDonald's  restaurants in Hong Kong have started to offer wedding catering and reception venues for up to 50 people(http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/foodwine/2014359941_mcweddings01.html) . For about $1300, you will get a "cake" made of McDonald's apple pies, a full McMeal, wedding invitations and even gifts for guests - what a deal!! Who can resist the aroma of burgers and fries as you revolve slowly to your first dance as husband and wife? I can't. Future husband, beware.
As a child, one of my favourite foods was chicken fingers. I could eat them any time, literally, a dangerous obsession for a baby that looked like a potato. As an adult (if you can call me that), I still love chicken fingers - BUT, in a quest to be more healthy, I've been trying to make them at home, sans deep frying and with real, all-white meat chicken breast (just like McDonald's uses, of course). This past weekend, M and I succeeded: delicious baked chicken fingers with just the right amount of crunch and spice and surprisingly tender and juicy (getting hungry again). The key to the recipe? Double-coating the chicken pieces, first in flour, then in the bread crumb mixture - this helps preserve the crispiness. Accompanying our dish we made a salad with tomatoes, oranges, almonds and an olive oil + balsamic vinegar dressing, and of course, yam fries (M succeeded in cutting fries, which is, trust me, a huge feat!). Fries are not to be confused with yam medallions, which are a completely different realm of side dish, and a mainstay of our meals at 23. This dish is even good reheated! A final note, for M's sake: DO NOT broil the chicken fingers, as they will dry out, but DO broil the yam fries, keeping a careful eye on them to make sure that they don't burn!

Best-ever chicken fingers
Adapted from "Zesty Cook"

2-3  chicken breasts
2 eggs
1 cup flour
1 1/2 cups bread crumbs
1 tbsp. water
Salt
Pepper
Red pepper flakes (about 2 tsp)
Chili powder (1-2 tsp)
Dashes of hot sauce

1. Preheat oven to 350F and coat 1 pan in cooking spray or parchment paper.

2. Slice chicken breasts length-wise (roughly 1 inch wide)

3. Add salt and pepper to flour, and mix well

4. Beat eggs and add tbsp water to the mixture. Add hot sauce (about 5-6 dashes, or more if you're me)

5. Flavour bread crumbs with red pepper flakes and chili powder.

6. Coat chicken in 1) flour mixture 2) egg mixture and 3) bread crumbs.

7. Arrange fingers on prepared pan and bake for about 15 minutes, turning once, until fingers are golden brown.

Serve with ketchup, barbeque sauce, mustard, mayonaise, hot sauce, no sauce..... and make sure to finish your plate.

Who needs McDonald's catering?

PS: stay tuned for my first BLOG PROJECT!

Comments

  1. MLeC11 May 2011 at 14:50

    They go great with lots of white wine. And for the record, it was Squid who wanted to petrify the chicken fingers.

    ReplyDelete
  2. ak11 May 2011 at 16:59

    looks good! but sounds like I've been replaced :(

    ReplyDelete

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