Fried Pate a Choux with Cinnamon Sugar

I'd had a craving for doughnuts since I read a recipe for Buttermilk Doughnuts and French Crullers in the LA Times. Last night, however, I wanted a treat that was a little simpler, though just as fulfilling. I decided to make some pate a choux, adding a generous amount of sugar, vanilla extract and a dash of cinnamon, fry it in a mix of canola and olive oils and then cover it liberally with cinnamon sugar (about a 5:1 sugar to cinammon ratio).

The picture, from my 2008 Samsung cell phone, doesn't do this delectable treat justice. They were crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside, while the heat pronounced the cinnamon flavor and mellowed the sugar. 

Fried Pate a Choux with Cinnamon Sugar

Ingredients:

1/2 C water

3 T butter, cut into cubes (for faster melting)

1/2 C flour

1/4 C sugar

1 t vanilla extract

1 t ground cinnamon

2 large eggs

cinnamon and sugar to make a 5:1 blend (reference, 1 C = 16 T, 1 T = 3 t; or better yet, get a food scale)

enough canola and olive oil to fill a small sauce pan

Method:

Place the butter, vanilla extract and water in a sauce pan over medium heat. When the butter is melted, add the flour, sugar, and cinnamon, stirring vigorously until the mixture begins to pull away from the sides of the pan into a ball.

Turn off the heat and let it sit for 2-3 minutes off the burner as it cools. Then add the 2 eggs, one at a time, to the water-butter-flour mixture. At first it will be slimy, but then the mixture will become smooth and creamy, with continued beating. (I suggest using a whisk at this point, though my kitchen is lacking in one and so I use a spatula. A long-tined fork could also work.)

Fill another sauce pan with the oil and allow it sit over medium heat. Test a small drop of the batter. If it is hot enough, it should drop to the bottom then immediately rise back up. I used a large spoon to drop free-form spoonfuls of dough into the batter, letting it fry for about 3-4 minutes, or until golden and deliciously browned.

Drop the fried batter onto a paper towel and allow it to drain oil (essentially, the air that would fill up in the holes in the pate a choux when baking, which forms the definitive puff, such as in a gougere or a profiterole, is replaced with oil which drains out of the dough and deflates it). When drained, cover generously with the cinnamon sugar mixture, plate, and try to make sure Mike doesn't eat them all.

Experiments for next time: doused powdered sugar or melted chocolate,soaked in creme anglaise or caramel sauce.

Enjoy!

Quick and Cheap (Oven) Fried Chicken

I decided that after purchasing that french bread I needed to put it to good use, so I took a quarter of the loaf and diced into the small pieces, toasted them with olive oil and oregano in the toaster over for two minutes, then ground them up my handy-dandy blender to make homemade bread crumbs. I'm planning on using the bread crumbs to spice up some extra boxes of mac and cheese that have been sitting in the pantry for months. But for now, those bread crumbs were part of the base for some quick and cheap fried chicken.

I've been dying to make Fried Chicken for Mike and when I saw those 6 drumsticks for $2 at Safeway, I could hardly resist. The recipe that I use when I am at home, i.e. getting free ingredients from my parents, is slightly different, but this is a good baseline, and it was so good that Mike ate 4 of the drumsticks. Thus, thanks to my urges, I was able to knock a couple of things off of my list.

Quick and Cheap (Oven) Fried Chicken

Ingredients

1/2 C plain yogurt

1 T whole grain dijon mustard

1 T brown sugar

1 t cayenne pepper

1 t black pepper

1/2 t salt

6 chicken drumsticks (~ 1.5 lbs)

1/2 C white or yellow fine ground cornmeal

1/2 C breadcrumbs

Method

1. Mix the yogurt, mustard, brown sugar, cayenne pepper, black pepper, and salt in a bowl or bag. When blended, add the drumsticks. cover the chicken evenly with the mixture and allow to marinate in the refrigerator for 4 hours.

2. When the chicken is done marinating, either preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit or heat canola (or any other vegetable with a high smoke point) in a pot or pan. 

3. Mix the cornmeal and breadcrumbs in a separate bowl. Transfer the drumsticks one by one from the marinade, into the dry mix, cover completely, and then lay either on a baking sheet or in the pot/pan of hot oil.

4. If baking, bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes, taking time halfway through to flip over the drumsticks. If frying, cook the chicken on each side for about 4 minutes, until crisp and browned on the outside.

I baked half of my chicken and fried the other half. I enjoyed the taste of the fried chicken more, but the baked was cooked more thoroughly (the fried chicken had to go in the over for another 5 minutes). Both methods, however, produced very juicy, very flavorful chicken. Above is a picture of the baked chicken. I sliced half an apple and sprinkled with cinnamon and olive oil. I'm sure it would have been delightful baked for a few minutes, but we enjoyed them raw and on the side of the chicken.

Another side dish was some roasted broccoli with garlic and olive oil. This way I got rid of about 1/2 of the remaining frozen broccoli. 

For myself, I decided to fry up a couple of slices of polenta,  top with some  swiss-gruyere cheese, mesclun greens (spring mix) that I cooked down with olive oil, garlic, cranberries and walnut pieces. The taste was delightful and I'm really excited to try my next polenta experiment (I still have half of the tube left). For now, here is some more eye candy.