Flash Fried Chicken Mash-Up & Reverse OZ-mosis – October 14, 2011's The Chew Recipe Redo

Carla Hall did a great job reducing the calories in her Grandma Thelma’s fried chicken, but she didn’t get it down as low as Rocco diSpirito's flash-fried chicken that he made on GMA last summer. Carla's recipe still looked good to me, so I did a mash-up of both their techniques for healthy fried chicken that’s also delicious – probably because it’s actually fried and not baked. Her tip of leaving the chicken to sit in the flour for 15 minutes made a huge difference.

• Simmer the chicken (I used boneless, skinless chicken breast) in some low sodium chicken broth. I added some fresh garlic for more flavor.  
• When the chicken is just cooked through, put it in a paper bag with seasoned whole wheat flour, I used cayenne, smoked paprika and black pepper. Let it sit for 15 minutes the way Carla did. You can add flaxseed meal to the flour mixture if you want. 
• Heat some oil in a skillet, preferably cast iron. The oil is ready when the handle of a wooden spoon bubbles after being dipped into the hot oil. (Thanks for the great tip, Mario!)
• Flash fry the chicken until golden brown, about a minute. Because the chicken is already cooked through, all you’re doing is creating the crust. This method drastically cuts the amount of fat absorbed into the chicken because it isn’t in there long enough to soak up vast quantities of oil.

The chicken went well with Daphne Oz’s baked sweet potato fries, but I have to admit that I did a little Reverse OZ-mosis. Normally I try to make The Chew recipes healthier by following Dr. Oz’s guidelines, but instead I made it a little tastier by using coconut oil instead of olive oil. Coconut oil has a flavor profile more compatible with sweet potatoes than olive oil.  

I also used fresh-grated nutmeg and a little cayenne in place of the salt & pepper. I'd like to say it's healthier because I omitted the salt and added heart-healthy cayenne and nutmeg, but since I used a less healthy oil - coconut oil is solid @ room temperature (in places north of Arizona, anyway) I'm calling it a wash. While it isn't as healthy as what Daphne made, it's certainly a whole lot better than regular French fries.

Follow Daphne’s directions except use coconut oil in place of the olive oil and nutmeg & cayenne in place of the salt & pepper. Don’t crowd them in the pan – sweet potatoes tend to steam and your “fries” will be mushy instead of crisp. I'm happy to report that these fries came out crispy on the outside and soft on the inside - there were no leftovers!

Solving the Mystery of The Chew's Mario Batali's Chicken with Tapenade & Fennel Salad

Went to the grocery store @ 9 a.m., which is when The Chew uploads the recipes for the day. I was so cocky, had my smartphone to get the ingredients so I'd be ready to cook along with Mario @ noon & was pleasantly surprised that I had no trouble finding the ingredients all in one store. 


Yay me, I thought smugly as I drove home. I'll have a great dinner done before the sun goes down. I watched The Chew, put the anchovies in milk like Mario said to do, & then went on about my day. 


About 30 minutes ago, I booted up the computer to fix this wonderful dinner - got the tapenade done, the fennel salad mixed & dressed...then came to a screeching halt at step 3. Someone seriously needs to proofread this website before they post. I normally post a link to the original recipe, but it's such a disaster that it's better if I don't. It's as if the Wicked Witch of the West is messing with The Chew for messing with Daphne Oz.


Step 3 listed five ingredients - but the instructions for what to do with those ingredients was to preheat the grill - no mention of what to do with the five ingredients. 


Hoping I'd figure it out, I went on to Step 4 - one ingredient, the chicken thighs - & the instructions for what to do with the chicken thighs was to mix up the ingredients from Step 3. No problem, I figured the techie entering the info just reversed the steps in a cut & paste mishap. I can handle this ... I swapped the instructions & went on to Step 5.


That's when it all came unglued again. Step 5 had five ingredients, very similar ingredients to Step 3, but in smaller amounts. What to do with those five ingredients???? "Debone your chicken.  Add chickens and toss to coat." WTF??? 


Debone my chicken & add my chickens & toss to coat in what??? The deboned chicken???? The ingredients two steps ago??? The ingredients in this step???  


I gave up & took out a couple of fish fillets instead. After pan searing the fillets, I served them on the fennel salad with a schmear of the tapenade atop the fish. The chicken went back into the fridge - hopefully there's a chicken recipe on tomorrow's The Chew. 


If not, after dinner, I finally did figure out where the breakdown was in Step 5.  The solution is below with the steps I had completed shown in double time:

• "Debone your chicken" belongs up in Step 4 along with where "Preheat the grill" should be.
• "Add chickens and toss to coat" should stay put ... it's tossed in the ingredients from Step 5.

btw: the fish was delicious!  

Chicken w/ Tomato & Olives Michael Symon's 5 in 5 - A recipe re-do from The Chew Sept. 27, 2011 - Ozzified

Today's 5 on 5 recipe needed so little tweaking that I was able to make it for today's lunch & eat it before the show was over.  


Click here for Michael Symon's original recipe.

My tweaks:

• Used skinless chicken thighs as I had some left from last night's dinner & skinless chicken is healthier. 
• To compensate for the fat the skin would've provided, I cooked the chicken thigh on a griddle with some olive oil rather than a grill. And no, Michael Symon, I am NOT "crazy fat-phobic"!
• Didn't have a brick handy, so I smashed the boneless chicken thigh once with a skillet before I cooked it, then occasionally pushed on it with my spatula to keep it flat. I could have used my bacon press but didn't want more to clean up afteward.
• Used a chopped, fresh, heirloom tomato rather than go buy a whole can of San Marzano tomatoes, which tend to be pricey and have a lot of sodium. 

As was obvious on the segment, the chicken alone takes more than five minutes to cook. It took seven minutes to get to 160 degrees, but then I didn't use a brick. Doesn't matter, this dish was yummy and well worth the extra minute or two.