The Best Laid Plans

You know where I'm going w/ this don't you??? Yep, that's right---a recipe uh-oh. We've all been there. You're standing in the kitchen and ready to throw your arms up in the air and say "forget it". Or you're staring down at this dish that looked gorgeous in the cook book and yours looks like something that comes out of a horror movie. I think these moments have happened to the best of cooks, and probably will again. After all, during her audition for Food Network, while cooking on Emeril's set, Rachael Ray caught something on fire!! And look how far she has come. I recently won "The Best of America's Test Kitchen" cook book from my friend, and fellow foodie, Megan at Wanna Be a Country Cleaver (remember she is the smarty who came up w/ the Loaded Potato Salad!) I didn't get past page 9 before finding something I had to cook, and had to cook NOW. These would be perfect for an appetizer or a main dish. Let me say they still turned out great even though I had to digress from said page 9 a little bit.(See notes in recipe). I also want to state this disclaimer: In no way do I think the problems I had were due to the recipe itself. I am 100% convinced it was totally the fault of the cook (yeah, that would be me). Why? Because I misread the recipe! Oops!! But when you are supposed to end up w/ a mixture that "resembles coarse corn meal" (again, see recipe) and in my bowl I have something that resembles evil playdough, you have to face the fact you went wrong somewhere along the way. Well, after re-reading the recipe when it was time to type this up, I discovered my mistake and literally laughed out loud at myself. Guess you can't expect good results when you don't read correctly :-) So next time, I will remember this and I'm sure it will turn out fine.  And just in case you find yourself in the same "pickle" as me, remember I've provided an alternative! Cooking is a science, and science is all about experimentation.

Boneless Buffalo Chicken Bites w/ Blue Cheese Dressing
Dressing:
3 oz. crumbled blue cheese
3/4 c. mayo
6 TBS sour cream
1 1/2 TBS cider vinegar
1/4 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp garlic powder

Chicken:
1 1/2 lb. boneless chicken breasts, trimmed and cut into 1 1/2 inch chunks
1/2 c. buttermilk
1 tsp salt
3/4 c. hot sauce (I used Frank's)
1/4 c. water
1/4 tsp sugar
1 TBS butter
1 1/2 c. plus 2 TBS tsp cornstarch
4 large egg whites
1/2 c. all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
4 c. vegetable oil

For the Dressing: Combine all of the ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth, about 30 seconds, scraping sown the sides of the bowl as necessary. (This can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 1 week.)

For the Chicken: Combine the chicken, buttermilk and salt in a large storage bag and refrigerate 30 minutes up to 2 hours. Combine the hot sauce, water, sugar, butter and 2 tsp cornstarch in a saucepan. Whisk over medium heat until thickened, about 5 minutes.

Whisk the egg whites in a shallow dish until foamy. Stir the flour, baking soda, 1 1/2 c. cornstarch and 6 TBS of hot sauce mixture in a second shallow dish until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal.
* This is where my recipe went wrong. I totally missed the "second dish" part and combined all of these and ended up w/ dough.* :-)


Remove the chicken from the marinade and pat dry w/ paper towels. Toss half the chicken w/ the egg whites until well coated, then dredge the chicken in the cornstarch mixture, pressing to adhere. Transfer to a plate and repeat w/ remaining chicken. Heat the oil to 350 (I used my electric skillet). Fry half the chicken until golden brown, about 4 minutes, turning each piece half way through. Transfer the chicken to a paper towel lined plate to drain. Return oil to 350 and fry remaining chicken. (To keep warm, the cooked chicken can be kept in a 200 oven for 30 minutes). Warm the remaining sauce over medium-low heat until simmering. In a large bowl place cooked chicken and sauce mixture. Toss to coat. Serve w/ blue cheese dressing.

*What I Did*
At the point I had dough instead of a dredging mix, I was also out of cornstarch. So, I took the chicken out of the marinade and patted dry. I then dredged in flour only and fried according to recipe. I then followed rest of recipe for coating w/ sauce. That's it. Pretty simple....thank goodness!! Lol

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