Hot & Spicy Chicken

Here's another one of the recipes I found on Pinterest recently that I have pinned to my
"Yummy looking Recipes" board that I knew we needed to make from the Table for Two blog.

We've named it "Hot & Spicy" Chicken, I've seen it on Pinterest and other places referred to as "Bang Bang" Chicken. The elementary principal in me that can't tolerate any gun related play or imitations just can't be okay with calling it "Bang Bang" Chicken... so call it what you want we'll go with Hot & Spicy.

It's a week night doable recipe we made it on a Wednesday even after working out, usually after an evening workout we go with simple, simple meals because by 7:30 we are ready to hit the couch and veg out a bit. But this really came together in no time.

I gathered the ingredients and figured this recipe would be the perfect vehicle to use my tasty Japanese style mayo, Kewpie, that we haven't used since the sushi party.

This sauce is very similar, minus the rice vinegar, to our favorite sushi sauce.

Breading the cubed chicken in flour, egg wash & panko went quick.

A quick fry and yum!

Quite tasty and simple for a weeknight change of pass for this, "we don't fry much" kind of couple.

We served it with a frequent flyer around our house, Barnard Griffin Chardonnay. (This was before we went back to our wine on weekends only protocol obviously, or more like no wine Monday-Wednesday.)

Recipe:

Ingredients:

5 chicken tenderloins, cubed

For the sauce:

1/2 cup mayo

5 tsp. Sriracha sauce

1 tsp. granulated sugar

1 tsp. rice vinegar

For the egg mixture:

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup milk

For the breading:

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup Panko breadcrumbs

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp ground pepper

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. dried basil

Instructions:

1. Prepare a plate lined with paper towels for the chicken after it’s done cooking in the oil. Set aside.
2. Combine all the ingredients for the sauce and set aside.
3. In a small, shallow dish, combine the egg and milk. Set aside.
4. In another shallow dish, combine the ingredients for the breading. Set aside.
5. Bread the chicken cubes by first coating it in the bread mixture then the egg wash then back in the breading. Put the coated chicken cubes on a plate. Continue until all the chicken have been breaded.
6. Pop the plate of chicken in the fridge for about 20 minutes. It’ll help the breading stick to the chicken.
7. In a large skillet, add a thin layer of vegetable oil and place over medium high heat.
8. Once the oil is glistening, add in the chicken (I did it in 2 batches so you don’t overcrowd the pan) and cook the chicken until it’s cooked through & the breading is nice and crispy brown.
9. Once the first batch is done, put the cooked chicken on the prepared plate with the paper towel. Continue with the second batch and once that’s cooked, add that to the prepared plate.
10. In a large bowl, put in your cooked chicken and pour the sauce all over. Toss well to coat every bite.



Homemade Cinnamon Bread

Although I did make G those decadent chocolate chili ganache cupcakes for his birthday all he really asked for his on birthday was a loaf of cinnamon bread. And actually he meant for me to just buy a loaf at Metropolitan Market.

But given my slowly emerging and awakening baking confidence I thought, "Well why not attempt to bake a loaf of cinnamon bread myself?" I mean hey if I can spend 3 days making some scrumptious croissants I'm sure I can pull off a loaf of cinnamon bread. And in reflection we were both glad I actually gave this a try.

I found a very straight forward recipe on The Pioneer Woman. She has a fantastic step by step photo tutorial so how could I go wrong.

I started as usual gathering all of the ingredients.

And then I just jumped in full steam ahead. I'm in love with dough hook on my Kitchen Aid now. Who knew the magic it could do.

Like I mentioned the step by step photos really helped me so go check them out here.

It was pretty exciting to get my dough rising and rise it did after 2 hours.

Next I rolled it out, measuring to my loaf pan and trying to keep it rectangular.

I wasn't quite as successful with that part as you can see.

And then finally the fun part started. By this point it was really starting to feel like I was going to be successful with this baking endeavor.

After the second round of rising into the oven it went and after 45 minutes it was looking pretty gorgeous.

The house smelled amazing.

I let it cool and then we wrapped it in a towel to save for morning. G loved it, he ate 4  toasted and buttered pieces for breakfast on his birthday.

I did buy a loaf of cinnamon bread just in case mine didn't turn out (my baking confidence isn't totally stellar yet.) but it's in the freezer now because mine turned out fantastic.

We did several special things to celebrate G's 42nd but by far the cinnamon bread was his favorite present. Which of course made it 100% worth making for him.

The Pioneer Woman's recipe for Cinnamon Bread link.