FoodB

Jenn had a whole chicken that we were going to roast in the oven last week and due to thawing issues we ended up having to postpone our chicken baking for a few days. By the time Sunday came around Jenn had changed her mind and was craving fried chicken instead of roasted, which was perfectly fine by me because I am always down for fried food even though I try to eat healthy. She has tried a few times to fry a chicken with recipes we have found online and have had mixed results. This time she wanted to go to a source she knew would deliver on the goods, her mom. We invited Rita over to teach her how her Grandmother used to fry up chicken and we had a nice little Sunday dinner. As well last week we were supposed to make fried polenta earlier in the week and always forgot that we needed to let it sit for 2 hours before making it. Prep work that requires sitting time is pretty difficult during a work week and we usually end up skipping recipes that require it. So Sunday was a journey through a couple of fried foods, one familiar and one foreign to us.

The fried polenta was very interesting. It's really hard to describe because I don't think I have ever had anything like it. My first taste made me think I was eating warm corn flakes, which now that I think about it I kinda was. Basically it is cornmeal and butter that is cut into strips with parmesan cheese over and you dip it in marinara sauce. We just used store bought marinara sauce and I thought it would have been great as an appetizer for one of those times that you don't want to make the usual finger foods for a party. It wasn't a hit with Jenn, but Rita and I loved it and nearly finished it all ourselves (the recipe makes about 30 finger size sticks). Here is the recipe if you are curious: Fried Polenta

The chicken was a pretty easy recipe as well basically all Rita did was add salt, pepper and paprika to flour and shake it in a bag with the chicken parts. Then she cooked the chicken pieces in about 1/4 a cup of vegetable oil until all of the sides had a nice golden crust on them. Seems to easy I agree, but it made for some tasty chicken. Next time we make it were going to try adding some things that we like and see if we can make a recipe that is ours.

Tonight we are having the Beef and Cheese Manicotti I was going on about last month again. Jenn is going to try the recipe this time with ground veal instead of ground beef and we shall see what the results are. We use ground veal for some of our recipes and it seems to add a lighter flavor that regular ground beef does to recipes. It costs about a dollar more per pound but sometimes it's worth it.

Also this weekend I get to BBQ again. I found an old Weber kettle on Craiglist a few months ago for $10 and have only have chance to fire it up once now. They're going to take away my BBQ license if I keep neglecting my 'cues like I am. If you're keeping score at home, I now have 3 grills. 1 Propane based grill, 1 charcoal kettle, and my R2-D2 looking smoker.

I haven't decided what I want to cook yet on the grill but I might try these Pancetta Grilled Scallops with some vegetables. They look pretty easy to cook and I've been meaning to throw some shellfish on the grill for awhile now.