"The Mexican Mess" or Herbed Jalapeno-Cornmeal Waffles with Chorizo Gravy, Blackened Heirloom Tomato Salsa, Fried Eggs, & Fresh Cilantro

"The Mexican Mess" or Herbed Jalapeno-Cornmeal Waffles with Chorizo Gravy, Blackened
 Heirloom Tomato Salsa, Fried Eggs, & Fresh Cilantro

Hey guys... guess what? It's brunch time again. The best part of any week, by far. Well as far as we're concerned. So what do I have to share with y'all? Waffles. Savory Waffles. Savory Mexican Waffles. All I can say is that these would be the perfect hangover meal following your celebration of Cinco de Mayo. Yep, put this one in your back pocket, it'll be crucial in recovery. It starts off with my favorite waffle base, but adapted a slight bit. I added coarse cornmeal along with cumin, cilantro, chives, and jalapeno. You could just slather this waffles with butter and eat them like cornbread, just do it. I won't judge you. After these Mexican waffles have been stacked they are doused with a spicy, creamy chorizo gravy. Southerners love gravy, but we also like our shit spicy too, ya'hear? The gravy has this delightful pink-tinged color that makes me smile, maybe it'll make you smile too. That's debatable though because you could be hungover while eating this, and if that's the case, you won't be smiling, which is a-ok with me too. Once the waffles have been covered in gravy, the rest is really up to you & what you are feeling. We topped ours with fried eggs because well, we're fried egg junkies. And then some of my Homemade Blackened Heirloom Tomato Salsa was poured all over the top. But, ya know, I wish I had made some corn salsa for garnishing too (so y'all add that and make me proud). All that's left to do is to sprinkle on some fresh cilantro and you've got it made. Serve it warm with a cold Michelada and you don't need anything else!! Enjoy :)

fried egg perfection.

See the pink chorizo gravy? Love it.

And that, my friends, is why it is called The Mexican Mess

For the Herbed Jalapeno-Cornmeal Waffles:

1 ½C AP Flour

½C Cornstarch

½C Coarse Cornmeal

1t Baking Powder

½t Baking Soda

1t Salt & Sugar

¼t Black Pepper

Pinch of Chili Powder & Cumin 

1C Milk & Buttermilk

2/3C Vegetable Oil

2 Large Eggs, Lightly Beaten

2-3T Fresh Cilantro, Minced

1T Fresh Chives, Minced

1 Fresh Jalapeno, Minced

For the Chorizo Gravy:

½lb Ground Chorizo, Cooked into Crumbles (discard the grease)

4T Unsalted Butter

3TAP Flour

2-3C Whole Milk

Pinch of Chili Powder

Salt & Pepper, To Taste

For the Mexican Brunch Waffles:

Herbed Jalapeno-Cornmeal Waffles, Cooked until Crispy

Chorizo Gravy, Warm

Fried Eggs

Homemade Blackened Heirloom Tomato Salsa

Fresh Minced Cilantro, For Garnishing

Directions:

1. For Herbed Jalapeno-Cornmeal Waffles: In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, seasonings, herbs, and minced jalapeno. Whisk together to blend. In another mixing bowl, beat together the whole milk, buttermilk, oil, and egg. Add the dry ingredients to the bowl with the wet ingredients and whisk just until incorporated and few lumps remain. Set aside to rest for 30 minutes. Preheat a waffle iron. Fill waffle wells and cook according to the manufacturer’s instructions. The waffles should be crisp and golden brown. Keep them warm until you are ready to serve.

2. For the Chorizo Gravy: Fry the ground chorizo in a hot, deep skillet. Once crispy and crumbled, remove the chorizo and fat from the pan. Melt the butter, and then combine the fat with the flour in a skillet, continuously whisking, cook on medium heat for a couple of minutes until a roux is formed. Add the milk slowly to the skillet and mix the roux using a whisk. Turn the heat down to low and continue stirring until he mixture is thickened, 2-3 minutes. Add in salt and a lot of pepper to taste (and any other seasonings you would like to add). If the gravy is too thick for your taste, you can thin it by adding more milk, a tablespoon at a time. Add in the cooked chorizo until combined. Keep warm until ready to serve.

3. For the “Mexican Mess”: Stack the waffles on the plate and then pour on some of the hot chorizo gravy. Top the stack with a fried egg and garnish the plate with the blackened heirloom tomato salsa and fresh cilantro.

4. Enjoy while they are still warm!

Red Velvet Buttermilk Biscuits with Southern Chocolate Gravy + Whipped Cream Cheese Butter

Red Velvet Buttermilk Biscuits with Southern Chocolate Gravy + Whipped Cream Cheese Butter

I hope all of y'all had a wonderful Valentine's Day... and I'm sorry it has taken this long to post a new Red Velvet inspired recipe!! As I mentioned in my last post, my Red Hot Velvet Cinnamon Rolls were the perfect breakfast-in-bed-with-your-honey meal, and I just had to come up with another one for this year. I racked my brain for breakfast ideas that could be turned into a red velvet recipe, but I didn't want to do one that had already been done... a lot of people have done waffles, pancakes, & crepes. And then it hit me, RED VELVET BISCUITS. Why had I never thought of that before?! Who knows. Well, I started building from there, and immediately remembered enjoying Southern Chocolate Gravy with Buttermilk Biscuits as a child. What kid doesn't want chocolate for breakfast? This kid over here does! So along with the Red Velvet Buttermilk Biscuits, that brings in the red and buttermilk component of this cake classic, the chocolate gravy would sub in for the cocoa powder element, and lastly, the Whipped Cream Cheese Butter mimics the ever-popular cream cheese frosting. So, this dish is practically Red Velvet Cake... deconstructed... in breakfast form... with some Southern lovin' added in for good measure as well. There aren't many things that are as comforting as biscuits + gravy, especially if chocolate and sugar are thrown into the mix also. The biscuits turned out to be a gorgeous "God Bless 'merica" red and were utterly + effortlessly fluffy. As for the chocolate gravy, I called my mom asking if she remembered her recipe and she couldn't find it in the millions of recipe cards shoved into the drawers in our kitchen. So, I found a recipe online that had gotten a lot of great reviews, and it certainly didn't disappoint. If you're like me then you'll want to split the biscuits in half and spread on some of that cream cheese butter until it melts into the hot bread, and drown them in the chocolate gravy until they are completely covered. And just for presentation, I sprinkled on some toasted pecan bits over the top. Honestly, I don't know if there is more in my belly... or more on my face and hands because I got knee deep in this meal. But, that's half the joy of it all, isn't it? Finger lickin' good gravy always cheers this girl up. What an awesome meal this was on Valentine's Day with my Mountain Man. Oh and P.S., I need to be officially dubbed the "Queen of Red Velvet", o'tay? Good, glad y'all agree with me because having this many red velvet inspired recipes is just plain unhealthy!! Enjoy :)

Chocolate Gravy Waterfall  

biscuits + gravy... red velvet-style 

Homemade Whipped Cream Cheese Butter 

Garnish with some Toasted Pecans!

For the Red Velvet Buttermilk Biscuits:

2 ¼C Cake Flour, Sifted

1T Baking Powder

1T + 1t Sugar

1t Salt

6T Unsalted Butter, Cut into Cubes & Frozen

¾C Buttermilk, Well-Shaken

Red Food Coloring (to your liking)

2T Melted Butter, For Brushing

For the Southern Chocolate Gravy:

4T Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

2T AP Flour

1C Sugar

1 ½C Whole Milk

4T Unsalted Butter

1t Vanilla

Pinch of Salt

For the Whipped Cream Cheese Butter:

1 Stick of Unsalted Butter, Softened

4oz Cream Cheese

¼C Sugar

½t Vanilla

Pinch of Salt

Directions:

1. For the Red Velvet Buttermilk Biscuits: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Add in the frozen and cut the fat in using a pastry cutter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs, but pea-sized pieces of butter still remain. In a measuring cup, pour in some red food coloring, and then fill up the measuring cup to ¾C of the liquid mixture (this will make sure that you don’t add too much extra liquid to your biscuits). Whisk together the food coloring and buttermilk until it is red. Pour in the red buttermilk and use a fork to mix it until the dough just comes together. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, knead with floured hands, and pat into a thick square. Using a large, floured biscuit cutter, cut the biscuits from the dough and place them about 1-2inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet (I made about 6-8 biscuits). Brush the tops of the biscuits with some melted butter and bake for 20-25 minutes, depending on their side, or until the tops are golden brown. Just before serving, brush the tops of the biscuits with more melted butter.

2. For the Southern Chocolate Gravy: In a medium sauce a whisk together the dry ingredients. Pour in the milk and whisk vigorously to combine. Heat over medium-high until the mixture bubbles. Turn heat down to medium and stir until mixture has thickened to a gravy consistency. Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla. Let cool slightly then transfer to a gravy boat. Serve warm over buttermilk biscuits.   

3. For the Whipped Cream Cheese Butter: In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, beat together the butter and cream cheese until smooth & creamed together, about 1-2 minutes. With the mixer on high, add in the sugar, pinch of salt, and vanilla. Beat on high speed until light & fluffy like a whipped frosting. Refrigerate until ready to use.   

4. For Serving: Place some Red Velvet Buttermilk Biscuits onto a plate and pour the Chocolate Gravy over the top. Garnish the top of the gravy with some toasted pecans and serve the biscuits with the Whipped Cream Cheese Butter.   

source: southern chocolate gravy.

Country Fried Chicken with Caramelized Vidalia Onion Gravy

Country Fried Chicken with Caramelized Vidalia Onion Gravy,
Southern Corn Pudding, Sauteed Haricot Vert, & Mashed Potatoes

Just last year, we made this chicken fried steak with bacon-chive gravy and it turned out to be one of our favorite meals. I knew that at some point, I wanted to make a similar recipe, but this time, we'd have some chicken fried chicken or what I like to call, country fried chicken. I used pretty much the same breading and frying technique, just updated a little with a different style gravy. If you live in the South, then you know that Vidalia Onions are a kitchen staple. It's practically the only onion I cook and I buy them by the dozen. They have a mild onion flavor and a tad bit sweeter than all of the others. I urge all of y'all to find them at your local grocery store if you've never had them. So, when it came to this gravy, I decided to caramelize them, and then used them as the base. Well, it turned out great. The gravy had a beautiful depth of flavor and it was just mildly sweet, yet still very creamy. What a yummy comfort food classic, y'all. I served out country fried chicken with some sauteed haricot vert, mashed potatoes, & southern corn pudding. I'll post the recipe for the corn in a couple days!! Enjoy :)

Gravy + Fried Chicken + Mashed Potatoes... A Winning Combination 

Corn Pudding, Haricot Vert, & Mashed Potatoes

For the Chicken Fried Steak:

1C Buttermilk

Hot Sauce

4 Pieces of Chicken Cutlets, Pounded Thinly

1 ½C AP Flour

½C Cornstarch

Cajun Seasoning, Paprika, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Chili Powder, & Cayenne

3 Large Eggs

½C Buttermilk

2T Hot Sauce

Salt & Pepper, To Taste

For the Caramelized Vidalia Onion Gravy:

2T Unsalted Butter

2T Vegetable Oil

2 Medium Vidalia Onions, Thinly Sliced

3T Flour

2-3C Milk

¼t Paprika

Salt & Pepper, To Taste

Fresh Chives, Minced

Directions:

1. In a plastic bag, combine the 1C buttermilk and hot sauce. Add in the chicken cutlets and marinate the chicken for at least 4 hours, but preferably overnight.

2. To Make the Chicken Fried Chicken: Place the flour and cornstarch in a large bowl and season with salt and pepper to taste (and any other additional spices that you like, we like our chicken spicy). Mix the eggs in another large bowl with the ½C buttermilk and a couple dashes of hot sauce. Take a piece of marinated chicken and coat it into the seasoned flour. Next, dip the coated chicken into the egg mixture, and then dip back into the flour again. Heat a large skillet on medium heat and fill up with oil halfway up. Take the coated chicken and place it into the skillet and cook for 4-5 minutes and turn over and cook another 4-5 minutes. Drain on a paper towel lined plate and repeat with the other pieces of meat. Keep the cooked chicken in the oven while the others are frying.

3. For the Caramelized Vidalia Onion Gravy: In a deep sauté pan, heat the butter and vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Add in the sliced onions and a generous sprinkling of salt, and cook down until they are completely caramelized. Once the onions have caramelized, gently whisk in the flour in a skillet, cook on medium heat for a couple of minutes until a light roux is formed (make sure to keep whisking at first to break up any lumps of flour). Add the milk slowly to the skillet and mix the roux. Turn the heat down to low and continue stirring with a wooden spoon, until the mixture is thickened, 2-3 minutes. Add in salt and a lot of pepper to taste (we like a lot of fresh cracked pepper in our gravy). If the gravy is too thick for your taste, you can thin it by adding more milk, a tablespoon at a time until you've reached your preferred thickness. Pour the gravy over the country fried chicken pieces and serve along side with some mashed potatoes, corn pudding, and green beans. Garnish with chives. Enjoy immediately.

Sweet Potato Biscuits with Sausage Gravy, Crispy Pork Belly, & a Fried Egg

A little known fact... I'm obsessed with sweet potatoes. Sweet potato anything. Especially sweet potato biscuits. I love them more than any other biscuit in the world. I always make sweet potato biscuits for holidays, like Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter. They are just a must in our house. So, for a while, I have been wanting to make sweet potato biscuits & gravy. I made some jumbo sweet potato biscuits this morning, and then stuffed them with some crispy pork belly. If you haven't had pork belly, you're missing out. It's wonderful. But, it's not the easiest thing to find, so I understand if you just want to substitute in some thick cut bacon. Do whatever floats your boat. After you stuff the biscuits, top it with lots of homemade sausage gravy and a beautiful fried egg. And, I love to garnish with fresh chives because it gives it a nice bite and contrast in color. This brunch was so filling that you really can only eat one biscuit, since I make mine soooo big. It's totally worth it though because nothin' is better than a Southern breakfast!! Enjoy :)

Sweet Potato Biscuits with Sausage Gravy, Crispy Pork Belly, & a Fried Egg

For the Sweet Potato Biscuits:

½C Sweet Potato Puree

½C Buttermilk, Shaken

2 ¼C AP Flour

1T Baking Powder

1t Salt & Sugar

¼t Black Pepper & Paprika

Pinch of Nutmeg

1 Stick of Unsalted Butter, Cubed & Chilled

For the Sausage Gravy:

½lb Ground Sausage, Cooked into Crumbles (save the grease)

4T Leftover Sausage Fat

3T AP Flour

2-3C Milk

Pinch of Paprika

Salt & Pepper, To Taste

For the Biscuits & Gravy:

Sweet Potato Biscuits, Baked & Split in Half

Crispy Pork Belly (or you can substitute thick cut bacon)

Prepared Sausage Gravy

Fried Egg

Fresh Minced Chives, For Garnishing

Directions:

1. For the Sweet Potato Biscuits: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a small bowl, whisk together the sweet potato puree with the buttermilk until smooth, and then set it aside. In a larger bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and seasonings until incorporated. Place the chilled butter into the flour mixture, and using a pastry cutter, blend in the butter by hand until it resembles pea-sized crumbs. Next, gently stir in the sweet potato-buttermilk mixture until loose and sticky. Pour the dough out onto a floured surface and gently knead until the dough comes together. Roll the dough out until the thickness you want and use a biscuit cutter to cut out individual biscuits (I like my biscuits thick & big, so we only made about 6 biscuits). Spray a small pan with Pam and place the biscuits close together (so they rise up, not out). Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, depending on the size of your biscuits, or until puffed up and lightly golden. Keep biscuits warm until ready to assemble your biscuits & gravy.
2. For the Sausage Gravy: Fry the ground sausage in a hot, deep skillet. Once crispy and crumbled, remove the sausage, but still leaving the fat. Combine the fat with the flour in a skillet, continuously whisking, cook on medium heat for a couple of minutes until a roux is formed. Add the milk slowly to the skillet and mix the roux using a whisk. Turn the heat down to low and continue stirring until he mixture is thickened, 2-3 minutes. Add in salt and a lot of pepper to taste (and any other seasonings you would like to add). If the gravy is too thick for your taste, you can thin it by adding more milk, a tablespoon at a time. Add in the cooked sausage until combined. Keep warm until ready to serve.
3. For the Biscuits & Gravy: Split a baked sweet potato biscuit and place some crispy pork belly (or bacon) in the middle, and top it with the other half of the biscuit. Spoon some of the warm sausage gravy over the top of the biscuits, top with a fried egg, and garnish with minced chives. Enjoy immediately. 

Date Night : Red Velvet Fried Chicken & Buttermilk Waffles with Cream Cheese-Pink Peppercorn Gravy and Spicy Cinnamon-Maple Syrup

I feel like it's been forever since I had a date night with my Mountain Man. We've just been so busy with school, work, and St. Patrick's Day last weekend... it's just kinda slipped our minds. So, we finally brought it back and decided to make chicken & waffles, again. I know our obsession is down right dirty. But we love it, so there. And we really outdid ourselves with this crazy combination. I had heard of Red Velvet Fried Chicken from some restaurant in San Francisco that made it famous. Well, I knew that I had to make it the second I could... it's just too crazy to pass up! So, I marinated chicken tenderloins in my red velvet cake batter for 24 hours, and then I made a second batch of my red velvet batter and baked a cake. After it was done baking, I crumbled the cake into a breadcrumb-like texture, and then toasted them in the oven until they were nice & crunchy (but not burt). I deep fried these suckers until they were a deep red color and crispy on the outside. Also, I made a homemade gravy with some cream cheese, as a play off the cream cheese frosting typically served with the cake, and added some pink peppercorns for some bite. The waffles needed something sweet, so I made a spicy cinnamon-maple syrup. The chicken was served on top of delicious buttermilk waffles and topped with all the homemade fixin's. This is definitely one odd dinner, but somehow it all works. The chicken alone is sweet, but with the gravy, waffles, and syrup, it is all balanced out. So don't be afraid, just jump right in!! Enjoy :)

Red Velvet Fried Chicken & Buttermilk Waffles with Cream Cheese-Pink Peppercorn Gravy
and Spicy Cinnamon-Maple Syrup

Look at that gorgeous red hue that the chicken got from the marinade

For the Red Velvet Cake Batter:

2lbs of Chicken Tenderloins

2 ½C AP Flour

1C Sugar

1t Baking Soda & Salt

2t Cocoa Powder

1 ½C Vegetable Oil

1C Buttermilk

2 Large Eggs

1oz Red Food Coloring

1t White Distilled Vinegar & Vanilla

For the Toasted Red Velvet Cake Crumbs:

2 ½C AP Flour

¾C Sugar

1t Baking Soda & Salt

2t Cocoa Powder

1 ½C Vegetable Oil

1C Buttermilk, Room Temperature

2 Large Eggs, Room Temperature 

1oz Red Food Coloring

1t White Distilled Vinegar & Vanilla

For the Red Velvet Fried Chicken:

Red Velvet Cake Batter-Marinated Chicken Tenderloins

Toasted Red Velvet Cake Crumbs

Canola Oil, For Frying

Salt & Pepper, For Sprinkling

For the Buttermilk Waffles:

¾C AP Flour

¼C Cornstarch

½t Baking Powder & salt

¼t Baking Soda

1 ½t Sugar

1C Buttermilk

1/3C Vegetable Oil

1 Large Egg, Lightly Beaten

¾t Vanilla

For the Cream Cheese-Pink Peppercorn Gravy:

4T Butter

3T AP Flour

2-3C Milk

4oz Cream Cheese, Softened

1-2T Pink Peppercorns, Whole & Crushed (depends on how much pepper you like)

Cayenne, Ground Mustard, & Garlic Powder, To Taste

For the Spicy Cinnamon-Maple Syrup:

1C Pure Maple Syrup

1-2 Cinnamon Sticks

1T Hot Sauce

For the Red Velvet Fried Chicken & Cream Cheese Waffles:

Prepared Red Velvet Fried Chicken, Cooked

Prepared Buttermilk Waffles

Prepared Cream Cheese-Pink Peppercorn Gravy

Prepared Spicy Cinnamon-Maple Syrup

Directions:

1. For the Red Velvet Cake Batter: Place the chicken tenderloins into a large plastic bag, and set it aside. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. In a small bowl, whisk together the vegetable oil, buttermilk, eggs, red food coloring, white distilled vinegar, and vanilla. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and lightly mix until combined & a smooth batter is formed. Pour the batter over the chicken in the plastic bag, and let the chicken marinate in the batter overnight or preferably 24 hours.
2. For the Toasted Red Velvet Cake Crumbs: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray a 13x9 pan with Pam and set it aside. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. In another large bowl, whisk together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla. Using a standing mixer, mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined and a smooth batter is formed. Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan. Place the pan in the oven and bake, rotating the pan halfway through the cooking, until the cake pulls away from the sides of the pan, and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, about 30-45 minutes. Remove the cake from the oven and run a knife around the edges to loosen them from the sides of the pans. Invert the cake onto a cooling rack and let cool completely. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Once the cake has cooled, crumble the cake by hand onto a baking sheet until coarse crumbs are formed. Toast the cake crumbs until lightly golden brown & slightly crisp (making sure to toss them throughout the baking process). Now that they have cooked, let the toasted cake crumbs cool completely before coating the chicken in them.
3. Heat the quart of canola oil in a deep fryer to 350-375 degrees. While the oil heats, set up a battering station with red velvet marinated chicken and toasted red velvet cake crumbs (for coating). When ready to fry, place the chicken into the crumbs to coat the chicken in them (pressing the crumbs into the chicken, so there’s an even coating). Once you’ve coated the chicken, quickly add them to the hot oil and fry the chicken until they are deep reddish brown and cooked through, about 5-6 minutes (making sure to flip halfway through). Once the wings are fried, remove them to a wire rack to drain, and then season with salt and pepper. Keep the chicken warm in the oven while you make the waffles.
4. For the Buttermilk Waffles: In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar.  Whisk together to blend.  In another mixing bowl, beat together the buttermilk, oil, egg and vanilla.  Add the dry ingredients to the bowl with the wet ingredients and whisk just until incorporated and few lumps remain.  Set aside to rest for 30 minutes. Preheat a waffle iron.  Fill waffle wells and cook according to the manufacturer’s instructions.  Cook until crisp and golden. Serve immediately with the fried chicken or keep warm in the oven.
5. For the Cream Cheese-Pink Peppercorn Gravy: Melt the butter in a skillet. Combine the butter with the flour, continuously whisking, cook on medium heat for a couple of minutes until a roux is formed. Add the milk slowly to the skillet and mix the roux using a whisk. Turn the heat down to low and continue stirring until he mixture is thickened, 2-3 minutes. Add in salt and the pink peppercorns (I used some crushed peppercorn and whole peppercorns) to taste (and any other seasonings you would like to add). If the gravy is too thick for your taste, you can thin it by adding more milk, a tablespoon at a time. Keep warm until ready to garnish.
6. For the Spicy Cinnamon-Maple Syrup: Heat the syrup and cinnamon sticks over low heat for 10 minutes. Remove from heat, add in the hot sauce, and let it steep for 1 hour. Remove the sticks and pour into a small pitcher.
7. To Assemble the Chicken & Waffles: Place the buttermilk waffles in the center of your plate and spread with softened butter. Top the waffle with the red velvet fried chicken. Drizzle a heavy helping of peppercorn gravy and drizzle with the outsides of the plate with the spicy cinnamon-maple syrup on top and enjoy!!

Chicken Fried Steak with Bacon-Chive Gravy

Even though my Mountain Man is from Alabama, he really doesn't ever crave Southern food. Shocking, I know. And even worse, he doesn't like classic gravy. I mean, what Southerner doesn't like gravy? I kept insisting to him that this was just a misunderstanding. He had never had homemade gravy, which is just a crime in my mind. I really love Southern food, it's my absolute favorite. So, I insisted that I make him a true meal that he would fall in love with. The ultimate Southern dish to me is Chicken Fried Steak (and well fried chicken). The steak is spicy & perfectly crispy, and the gravy is so creamy. I also topped it with bacon lardons and fresh chopped chives to brighten up the dish. Luckily, the meal was a success because now he is a firm believer in all things Southern (including gravy). This Chicken Fried Steak & Bacon-Chive Gravy really has become one of his favorite meals that I have made. So you should definitely make it for someone you love! Enjoy :)

Chicken Fried Steak with Bacon-Chive Gravy & Mashed Potatoes

For the Chicken Fried Steak:

4 Pieces of Cube Steaks

1 ½C AP Flour

½C Cornstarch

Cajun Seasoning, Paprika, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Chili Powder, & Cayenne

3 Large Eggs

½C Buttermilk

2T Hot Sauce

Salt & Pepper, To Taste

For the Bacon-Chive Gravy:

5 Slices of Thick-Cut Applewood-Smoked Bacon, Cut into Lardons

4T Leftover Bacon Grease

3T Flour

2-3C Milk

¼t Paprika

Salt & Pepper, To Taste

Fresh Chives, Minced

Directions:

1. To Make the Chicken Fried Steak: Place the flour and cornstarch in a large bowl and season heavily with all the seasonings listed above (I put a great deal of seasonings into my flour, so that it is spicy, I call it my "demon flour"). Mix the eggs in another large bowl with the buttermilk and hot sauce. Take a piece of cube steak and coat it in the seasoned flour. Dip the coated beef into the egg mixture, and then dip back into the flour again. Heat a large skillet on medium heat and fill up with oil halfway up. Take the coated beef and place it into the skillet and cook for 3-4 minutes and turn over and cook another 4-5 minutes. Drain on a paper towel lined plate & sprinkle with salt, and repeat with the other pieces of meat. Keep the cooked steaks in the oven while the others are frying.

2. To Make the Bacon-Chive Gravy: Fry the bacon lardons in a hot, deep skillet. Once crispy, remove the bacon, but still leaving the fat. Combine the fat with the flour in a skillet, continuously whisking, cook on medium heat for a couple of minutes until a roux is formed. Add the milk slowly to the skillet and mix the roux using a whisk. Turn the heat down to low and continue stirring until he mixture is thickened, 2-3 minutes. Add in salt and a lot of pepper to taste (and any other seasonings you would like to add). If the gravy is too thick for your taste, you can thin it by adding more milk, a tablespoon at a time. Add in the fresh chopped chives and crispy bacon lardons. 

3. Pour the gravy over the chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes and enjoy.