City Chick Cooks

promise, those droplets were not on purpose!

a lot of my friends are job hunting, and as a result, i’ve had a lot of them staying at my place lately. my most recent guest is a very needy southern girl who has been talking about “FRIIED CHICKEN AND MASHED TATERRS” for the past few days. to shut her up (i love her, really i do) i made a rendition of fried chicken and mashed taters.

she is currently sitting in my apt and eating up the leftovers… so i’m guessing it was a success! FYI – this is NOT for the dieting or health-conscious. its heavy, but delicious.

i really dont know how to describe the dish. i made chicken stuffed with goat cheese, red peppers and spinach, panko breaded and fried. i also made goat cheese mashed potatoes and a mushroom parm cream sauce to go over it all.

i think i just felt my arteries clog up a little. but, its just the way that KP likes it 🙂 she eats butter.

i had the entire evening to cook, so i didnt plan it out properly or anything. i just took my sweet time doing everything and kept leaving the kitchen to watch grammy performances. 🙂

first thing, i threw the goat cheese in the freezer. i wanted it to be a little colder so that it would hold up nicely while the chicken cooked. its not necessary, just a little tip.

1, 2, 3, 4

cleaned and chopped up some creminis for the sauce. next time i might mince the mushrooms, these were too big for the delicate sauce. also mince half a shallot.

uno, dos, tres, quatro

cleaned and chopped some red potatoes. try to keep them around the same size so that they cook evenly.

peter piper picked a peck of pickled peppers

chopped up half a gorgeous red pepper and a clove of garlic.

i went ahead and started the filling for the chicken since i didn’t want it to be hot when we made the rollups. just sauteed the peppers, garlic and some spinach in a bit of olive oil.

i hate when veggies lose their color, its so sad.

just when the veggies get soft and spinach wilted, i poured it all into a bowl and set it aside to cool. u can shock them if you want, i just undercooked the spinach a little bit so that i wouldnt have to shock them. too lazy.

it took me like 5 minutes to figure out how to organize my tiny counter for this

prep the chicken station! you’ll need a large cutting board for pounding the chicken with saran wrap and your meat mallet. keep the bowl of cooked veggies nearby and the cheese. i cut the goat into disks and use used one disk per chicken. keep these seperate from anything that could be chickeny, you don’t wanna contaminate anything!

you’ll need 3 containers for the breading.

1. flour with salt and pepper and a bit of cajun seasoning
2. 1 egg, beaten
3. panko bread crumbs, seasoned with salt and pepper

thanks KP for taking pics while i played with raw meat. blech

pound out your chicken. then make an off-center line with some of the veggies and crumble in some goat cheese. roll it up, trying to make sure its not too full. you don’t want filling all over the place 🙂

the raw chicken will make a seal on its own. yeah nasty i know =/

yeah its not pretty, the pretty pics come later 🙂

lightly coat the roll in flour. then into the beaten egg and then in the panko, pressing the panko into the egg and chicken to make sure it sticks well.

heat your pan over medium heat (or medium-low if your flame is strong like mine) and pour in a good amount of peanut of canola oil.

test the oil with a panko flake, if it burns quickly its too hot. it should just bubble. once at the right temperature, using tongs, put in the chicken roll.

my oil got too hot. apt nearly burnt down. ok, not really...

cook on all sides until nicely browned. it should cook all the way through since the chicken is thin. but, if once you cut it and its not you can put it back on the pan later. its ok, i had to do that 🙂 it all depends on how you roll the chicken. once finished, put aside on a cutting board to slice up later.

these potatoes were pretty

cover the potatoes in cold water and put the pot over high heat and cover. let boil and get cooked through while you do the other stuff, checking every so often. once they get soft enough to mash, drain and quickly put back into the hot pan.

this is why carbs are necessary 🙂

throw in some goat cheese, a bit of butter, and pour in some heavy cream (not pictured). salt and pepper it all and smash smash smash.

please don't ever make mashed potatoes from a box, this is so easy!

i like my mashed potatoes a but chunky, but mash the the consistency you like.

last but certainly not least, the sauce.

the start to any great sauce 🙂

melt some butter over medium heat and toss in the mushrooms and minced shallot. after about a minute, salt and pepper and add some thyme.

i know you want me...

cook until mushrooms begin to leave a little water (if you crowd them like i did). if they are spaced out and able to brown, cook until browned.

add a bit more butter if theyre not really glossy, and then a little bit of flour to coat it all.

you know i want ya

after a min or 2 and when the raw taste has cooked out, add in some heavy cream. continually stirring to make sure the liquid absorbs all of the flour. add a little bit of salt, some pepper, and a handful of parmesan cheese (good stuff, not the green canister).

1, 2, 3, 4... uno, dos, tres, quatro

once thickened, remove from the heat. stir every once in a while to avoid getting that film on top.

plate your dish 🙂 and here comes the photo album… my pics somehow came out deliciously last night so i went a little nuts!

RUMBA

si!

ella quiere su rumba, como!

si es verdad que tu ere guapa

yo te voy a poner gozar

tu tiene la boca grande

dale ponte a jugar!

i just looked up the lyrics and translation. didn’t realize how dirty they are… but it’s pretty funny so i’ll leave them. sorry if you know spanish and are offended lol.

recipe will be posted in a bit!