Fried Chicken & Latke Waffles with Gravy

It's hardly a secret that I think Baby makes the best potato pancakes (latkes) and I love fried chicken and waffles, so we thought to combine the two to fantastic results (shown), our own fried chicken and latke waffles! Williams-Sonoma had a buttermilk brine mix once that appears to have been discontinued--but a simple brine they currently carry may work as well to make the excellent chicken. Baby even suggests just using a package of Hidden Valley ranch dressing mix found in any supermarket as the brine (it's basically the same thing and cheaper too)!

Fried Chicken & Latke Waffles
(Serves at least four with left overs)

Ingredients
For the Fried Chicken:
1 whole chicken cut apart into eight sections (have your butcher do this, if not found already cut up in a bag at your supermarket)
Brining mix (enough to thoroughly pat chicken to draw out the moisture from the meat)
Buttermilk (ditto)
2 cups flour, with 1 teaspoon salt and pepper each
Vegetable oil

For the Latke Waffles:
3 medium baking potatoes such as Yukon gold, grated (or even a bag of already grated potatoes, to save work--perhaps you can find this at your supermarket too)
Roughly 1 cup each chopped white or yellow onions, carrots, and celery
3 TB flour
1 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup buttermilk
3 eggs, beaten
1 pinch or two of salt and pepper

For the Dressings:
1 jar Heinz chicken gravy, or make your own ahead of time if you have a favorite
Crown syrup, or other fine maple syrup
Some fresh sage, for garnish (optional)

Method
Rub the brine (generally a mix of lemon, garlic, thyme, and the like) onto your chicken and coat with buttermilk. Cover with plastic and place in refrigerator overnight.

While oil in fyer is heating up for the readied chicken, prepare your latke waffles. Spray interior of waffle iron with cooking spray. Mix all latke ingredients well. Ladle batter into waffle iron. Close and cook each waffle for approximately five minutes, flipping half-way through if using a flip waffle iron. We used a very friendly, Oster DuraCeramic flip Belgian waffle maker, also priced nicely and available on Amazon Prime for about $35. Bed Bath & Beyond, Amazon carries them too.

Prepare a large, heavy bottomed pot with about 4-inches deep of oil on high heat or use a Cuisinart Mini Deep Fryer (boy do I love these things and they're reasonable priced too, around $50) filled with no more than a liter of vegetable oil. Set temperature according to product directions. When ready to fry chicken, remove from brine and shake off excess buttermilk. Dredge in 2 cups of flour that have been combed with with the 1 tsp and pepper each. I like to use a gallon bag to shake it up, a few pieces at a time, just like Shake n' Bake. Shake chicken in batches, shaking of extra flour and add to your fryer, no more than 3/4 pound at a time  until nicely browned. Remove to plates layered with paper towels.

Heat the gravy--using a microwave is fine.

When savory latke waffles are done, plate them and top with the most marvelous, juicy chicken. Ladle some hot gravy on each dish with a bottle of maple syrup such as Crown syrup (check out that post) on the side should your guests might wish both. I know I did. Drop some sage leaves in to the hot oil for one second and scoop them out carefully with a slotted spoon, now crisped. Top your dish and do enjoy!

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Scones

Going through our kitchen cabinets, I found a can of pumpkin puree. As I am always trying to use things we already have on hand, I thought this would be a great opportunity to make pumpkin bread! Alas, I also discovered we hardly had any flour, which surely must signify end of days. There was a bag of whole wheat flour though and as I traipsed along the internet, I found this recipe for whole wheat pumpkin scones from adashofsass.com that was perfect to utilize a number of ingredients filling our kitchen shelves. As you can see above, I prepped most of my ingredients beforehand--baking powder, vanilla, the wheat flour and a blend of four spices in one ramekin, as they were all going in the mix together at the same time.

Cubed butter is seen here. Note to self: buy more butter!


Get a solid pastry blender to work the butter into the flour and spices, until it is granular, like sand.

Mixing the dry ingredients that I had prepped, along with the wet ingredients such an egg, the puree and vanilla extract. I also incorporated some chocolate chips that were lurking about in the refrigerator and formed all into a 7'x7' shape, about an inch thick. This was then cut into pieces, glazed with an egg and topped with turbinado sugar.

Et voila, scones hot out of the oven!


Whole Wheat Pumpkin Scones
From adashofsass.com
Ingredients
2 cups white whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup fine baker’s sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 eggs
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1 tablespoon heavy cream
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cubed or grated, then placed back in refrigerator until needed
3/4 cup chopped pecans, toasted
Raw sugar or sparkling sugar (optional)
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips or raisins or dried apricots (optional)

Directions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a cast iron scone pan or line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium-sized bowl, stir together the pumpkin, cream, vanilla and one egg until combined. Place bowl in the refrigerator while preparing the dry ingredients.
- In a large bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar. Stir in the cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves.
- Using a pastry blender, two forks or your fingers, quickly work the cold butter cubes into the dry ingredients. Work until the mixture resembles a crumbly, sandy mixture.
- Add the cold wet ingredients to the crumbly mixture using a rubber spatula. Only stir until combined.
- Carefully add 1/2 cup of the chopped pecans and any additional add-ins (chocolate chips, raisins, apricots). Reserve the remaining 1/4 cup chopped pecans to sprinkle on the top of the scones. Knead the dough briefly, if needed.
- Pour the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Shape into a 7 inch square that is approximately 1 inch thick. Using a large knife, carefully cut the square into quarters. Then cut each quarter into four even pieces. Place on lined baking sheet or prepared cast iron pan.
- In a small bowl, beat the remaining egg with a fork. Using a pastry brush, brush each scone lightly with the egg. Sprinkle with raw or sparkling sugar and the remaining pecans.
- Bake for 16-17 minutes. Be careful not to overbake or the scones will dry out. Remove from pan to a wire rack to cool. Serve warm or store in an airtight container for up to a week.