Saturday Down South: NOLA-Style BBQ Shrimp

It's here again, folks... it's officially Alabama-LSU week in college football. It's essentially the biggest game of our season. Even though my Crimson Tide is undefeated and ranked #1, this game has got this entire house nervous. Unfortunately for us, we're playing in Baton Rouge this year, so we weren't able to go root on our boys in person, but we are certainly there in spirit! As a part of SEC tradition, everyone typically bases their tailgate spread on the food of what the opposing team is famous for. So naturally, that means Creole or Cajun recipes on this particular weekend. When we made the trip to New Orleans for the college playoff game two years ago, I heard about Barbecue Shrimp. Now, this isn't your ole typical BBQ. It involves unpeeled, head-on shrimp that is simmered in a shit ton of butter, hot sauce, worcestershire, and lemon. This buttery spicy sauce is heavenly in every way possible... and even better, there is a requirement of serving it with a baguette of french bread, so that you can sop up all that sauce. Um, yum. I added my own little touches to it by adding my favorite homemade BBQ rub, which sweetens it just a tad, and by also infusing the dish with some fresh parsley + chives. I think that it lends another element to the whole thing that is much needed. We adored this recipe for NOLA-Style BBQ shrimp and have every damn intention of making it over and over and over again. It is absolutely fabulous for feeding a crowd or you know, just you and a friend... whatever you wanna do is up to you!! Enjoy :)

oh here comes the bread for soppin'

um... perfection.

For the BBQ Shrimp:

6T Unsalted Butter

3 Sticks Unsalted Butter, Cut into Cubes + Chilled

4 Cloves of Garlic, Minced

1C Beer

1C Hot Sauce

½C Worcestershire Sauce

¼C Freshly Squeezed Lemon Juice

2T Homemade BBQ Seasoning

2T Fresh Cracked Pepper

3lbs Head-On Large Shrimp (unpeeled)

Kosher Salt (as needed)

1T Fresh Parsley, Minced

1T Fresh Chives, Minced

1 Lemon, Thinly Sliced (for garnishing)

Warmed French Bread, For Dipping

Directions:

1. Heat the 6T of unsalted butter in the largest skillet that you have over medium-high heat (we used a paella pan and it worked great). Add in the minced garlic and cook until it is soft and fragrant… about 1-2 minutes (do not burn the garlic).

2. Add in the beer, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, BBQ seasoning, and pepper. Stir to combine it into the melted butter and garlic. Bring this mixture to a simmer and cook until the sauce has reduced by half, about 8-10 minutes. Add the head-on, unpeeled shrimp; cook, flipping once, until the shrimp is cooked through (just when it begins to turn pink). This should only take a few minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low and stir in the cubed, chilled butter to make a smooth sauce. Season with salt.

3. Remove the pan from the heat, sprinkle the chives and parsley all over the shrimp and place the sliced lemon evenly throughout the pan. Serve the BBQ shrimp with warmed French bread for sopping up the sauce. Enjoy.

#instagrub : The Most Flavorful Braised Southern Collard Greens

The Most Flavorful Braised Collard Greens

Today, I'm going to introduce y'all to one of my soon-to-be-favorite weekly feature called #instagrub. The idea of this started when I really got into the nitty-gritty of food blogging... often you're cooking too much, too long, or too quickly and there isn't a good enough space to capture the dish. I swear I'm so busy with adding the right amount of this and the right amount of that in order to make the recipe perfect, that I will cook from sunrise to sunset and not even get a hot meal myself. It's crazy how used to I am to eating room temperature or cold food. This is okay sometimes, but not blessing when fried chicken is coming hot out of the fryer. Nope, not gonna work. So, when stuff is just to good to wait or it's too dark to capture a picture in natural sunlight, I turn to my iPhone + Instagram. The convenience of my phone or an app is wayyyyy too appealing... and ya'know a girl has gotta EAT. Once Haute + Heirloom starts up, this will be on the rotating schedule every week. I really like it because I take a picture of almost everything I make (or do) on Instagram and some of them get left behind the gutter. No more of that, mmk?? Well, this recipe is tried + true to any Southerner, Braised Collard Greens. Now this girl doesn't turn her nose up at any collard green recipe because I don't discriminate against a tender green cooked with ham hocks and other classic ingredients, but I have over the years, developed a recipe of my very own. This has been done through watching the Food Network, cooking with family, or just doing a little research. I will say though that I like braised collard greens to be super flavorful and on the rich side of things. And that can be hard to come by because most consist of stock, hocks, and simple seasonings. I pull flavor from bacon fat, smoked ham hocks, chicken stock, hot sauce, vinegar, mustard, and tomatoes. Some unique items I include pickled jalapeno juice, maple syrup, caramelized onions, fried garlic chips, and a little bit of chicken base. I love the aromatic qualities that caramelized onions + fried garlic chips add to the dish (they are added at the very end), while I also adore the richness of maple syrup, bacon fat, and smoked ham hocks. These greens are so complex that they really serve as a entree over a side dish. But don't worry they go great along almost anything... but I'm partial to the Date Night meal I made last week: Coca Cola Glazed Pork Belly with Bacon Fat Fried Corn Hoe Cakes. It was the perfect accompaniment. To add some acidity to the dish, I topped them with pickled shallots and everything was great!! Enjoy :)

Homemade Pink Pickled Shallots

For the Collard Greens:

2T Melted Bacon Fat or Unsalted Butter

1 Medium Vidalia Onion, Minced

5 Cloves of Garlic, Minced

4 Smoked Ham Hocks, Slashed (in order to pierce the outer skin for more flavor)

2Q Chicken Stock (or enough to cover the ham hocks completely; buy unsalted stock)

1-2C Water, Room Temperature

¼C Pickled Jalapeno Brine & Maple Syrup

1t Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, & Red Pepper Flakes

2T Texas Pete Hot Sauce + 2T Green Tabasco Sauce

2T Pepper Vinegar + Apple Cider Vinegar

1T Soy Sauce + 1T Worcestershire

2T Stone Ground Grainy Mustard + Chicken Base

1 Large Tomato, Diced into Small Chunks (I actually like unripe tomatoes for this recipe)

2lbs Chopped Collard Greens (cut into roughly ½inch strips)

Salt & Fresh Cracked Pepper, To Taste (sugar can be added as well to sweeten if you like)

For the Caramelized Onions:

8 Strips of Thick-Cut Applewood Smoked Bacon, Cut into Cubes or Lardons

1 Large Vidalia Onion, Thinly Sliced

Salt & Pepper, To Taste

¼C Finely Chopped Garlic

Directions:

1. Preparing the Collards: Melt the butter or bacon fat in a deep pot over medium heat. Once it is hot, add in the minced onions and garlic. Sauté the veggies until they start to become translucent and caramelized (without burning them). This should take about 3-5 minutes. Meanwhile, using a sharp serrated knife, slash the four smoked ham hocks. This will help extract the maximum amount of flavor from the meat, fat, and bones. Now that the onions and garlic have cooked, add in the slashed ham hocks and cover with the chicken stock (at least by an inch over the hocks), water, pickled jalapeno juice, and maple syrup. Stir and simmer for about 10-15 minutes.
2. For the First Cooking Portion: Next, add in the hot sauce, vinegars, soy sauce, Worcestershire, grainy mustard, chicken base, and diced tomatoes. Bring this mixture to a boil, and then reduce the heat to simmer the potlikker liquid for an hour. While they reduce, make sure to strip, wash, drain, and chop the cleaned collard greens. Set them aside.
3. Shredding the Ham Hocks: After it has cooked down for the required period of time, remove the ham hocks from the liquid to a cutting board. Let them cool slightly, and then shred off any ham meat from the smoked ham hocks (discarding any fat pieces, cartilage, or bone). Place the meat into a bowl and save them to add in at the end of cooking.
4. For the Second Cooking Portion: At this time, whisk in the garlic powder, onion powder, and red pepper flakes. Throw in the prepared collard greens, making sure to push them down with a cooking spoon, so that all of them are submerged in the potlikker. Reduce the heat to low and cook the greens down, covered, for roughly an hour to an hour and a half (60-90 minutes). Throughout the cooking process, make sure to stir them every so often, that way they will wilt evenly.
5. Tasting and Seasoning the Collards: Now that the second cooking period is finished, taste & season with additional salt, pepper, and possibly sugar as needed (or really any other ingredient that is listed in my recipe). The flavoring is purely up to your tastes! If the potlikker broth is too rich, add more water to dilute it.
6. For the Caramelized Onions & Garlic Chips: In a large sauté pan, over medium-high heat, cook the bacon pieces or lardons down until all the fat has rendered and the meat is crispy. Strain the crispy bacon onto a paper towel lined plate and leave them alone while you finish your other tasks. Add the sliced onion into the hot bacon grease (if you need more fat, you can add a little here too). Caramelize or fry the onion slices until they are just starting to turn light golden brown, but still have some texture to them. Using a slotted spoon, scoop out the sautéed onions and add them into the collard green pot. With the remaining fat in the pan, reduce the pan to medium-low heat and fry the finely chopped garlic until just lightly toasted, crunchy, and fragrant. During this portion, do not leave the garlic alone; they can burn quite quickly and need to be stirred frequently. This should only take a few minutes (it all depends on their color).
7. Serving the Collards: Since all of the steps have been completed, it is now time to serve the greens for eating. Spoon the warm collards into large serving dish, making sure to include some of the potlikker liquid as well.  To finish the dish, garnish the top with a sprinkle of crispy bacon lardons and fried garlic chips. These toppings give off amazing flavor, and more importantly, texture! Serve with more pepper vinegar, red pepper flakes, and cornbread for your guests at the table.

Crispy "Chicken Fried" Chicken Skins with Homemade "Wrecked Junction" Hot Sauce

Crispy "Chicken Fried" Chicken Skins with Homemade "Wrecked Junction" Hot Sauce

We all love fried chicken... and if you don't well you're either A. lying to yourself or B. un-American. That might be a little drastic, but us Southerners live + die by our fried chicken recipes. It's practically a religion. Any who, I'm gonna be the first one that will put this out there, the main reason why fried chicken is so coveted is because of the crispy, juicy, evil, bootyliciously yummy chicken skins. There aren't make things that are more satisfying the fried chicken skin; it'd certainly be at the top of my list. So, why not skip over the whole boring meat situation and skip right to the goodies... CRISPY "CHICKEN FRIED" CHICKEN SKINS. This really is the best thang since fried chicken or potato chips or sliced bread (pick + choose from the list that applies to your childhood). These are the perfect little Southern appetizer without all the hassle of frying bone-in chicken for a couple hours. All you need is a bunch of skin-on chicken breasts, so that you can peel off the skins to marinate. The leftover meat from the skins was used for other recipes throughout the week... no need to waste here, people! The skins are soaked in buttermilk & hot sauce (just like most fried chicken recipes) and coated in my favorite "nibblet" dredging flour. Then, they are plopped into hot peanut oil and fried to golden brown perfection and sprinkled with just the smallest bit of salt and fresh cracked pepper. We served ours with our new favorite "wrecked junction" hot sauce, but a drizzle of fancy infused honey or sorghum molasses would be excellent for a sweet twist!! This is my heaven people... chicken skins, perfectly fried, and crispy with lots of "nibblets". Enjoy until you're heart gives out, literally!! Enjoy :)

perfect nibblet achievement.

don't forget to dip!! 

Marinating the Chicken Skins:

12-15 Chicken Skins (cut off of chicken breasts since they tend to be thinner & flatter)

1C Buttermilk

¼C-½C Hot Sauce 

For the Crispy Breading:

2C Self Rising Flour (AP Flour can be substituted)

½C Cornstarch

½t Ground Thyme, Garlic Powder, & Cayenne

Salt & Pepper, To Tasted

¼C Buttermilk (to be used in the last step)

For the Chicken Fried Chicken Skins:

Marinated Chicken Skins

Crispy Breading

Peanut Oil, For Frying

Homemade “Wrecked Junction” Hot Sauce, For Dipping

Honey, For Drizzling (optional)

Salt & Pepper, To Taste

Directions:

1. Marinating the Chicken Skins: Using a sharp knife or your hands peel of the skins from the meat (keeping the chicken to be roasted or used in a different recipe altogether). Use the backside of the knife or a dull butter knife to scrape off any excess pieces or clumps of fat. If you would like the skins in a bite size shape, cut them in half. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and hot sauce. Place the chicken skins into the buttermilk marinade, making sure they are completely covered. Marinate the skins for at least 12 hours or overnight.

2. Prepping: Once it has marinated, remove it from the refrigerator, drain & dry off the buttermilk brine. Meanwhile, heat the peanut oil in a deep fryer or skillet to 375 degrees.

3. Breading the Chicken Skins: In a brown paper bag, combine the flour, cornstarch, thyme, garlic powder, cayenne, salt, and pepper. Shake the dried chicken skins in the flour mixture and get rid of the excess flour from the chicken, and then place them into the same buttermilk marinade you used previously. Dip the chicken into the wet batter and let the excess batter drip off.  Right before you are ready to fry, drizzle in some of the excess buttermilk into your breading flour mixture. Using a whisk or a fork, stir it around and mash up the larger pieces of flour chunks to form chicken “nibblets” or extra crispy pieces of batter. Finally dredge the skins in the remaining “nibblet” flour and coat them well. Gently shake off anything excess, but don’t waist no “nibblets”, ya hear!

4. Frying the Skins: Place the coated chicken skins into the preheated oil and fry until crispy and golden brown, anywhere from 2-5 minutes, depending on the size of the skins. Remove from the crispy skins from the oil and let them drain on a paper towel-lined plate. Immediately salt and pepper to taste. Repeat with the remaining chicken skins.

5. Serving the Crispy “Chicken Fried” Chicken Skins: Place the crispy chicken skins onto a serving plate with homemade “wrecked junction” hot sauce for dipping!

Homemade "Wrecked Junction" Hot Sauce

Homemade "Wrecked Junction" Hot Sauce or Spicy Green Tomato-Serrano Hot Sauce

I have never ventured into making my own homemade hot sauces... yet. But, I'm so glad I decided to give it a go because this stuff is kick-ya-in-tha-face delicious. Getting kicked in the face is obviously a positive thing here, even though you wouldn't normally think so. This hot sauce gets your stomach wrecked because of its extra-spicy component of serrano peppers. No worries though, it is all mellowed out through the work of some nifty green tomatoes, shallots, and honey. I personally liked that this hot sauce had some "body" to it after it was pureed in the food processor. But, if you want to go for the "classic" hot sauce texture, you could easily pass it through a strainer or a cheesecloth. It's really up to you! We served this spicy companion with some super devilish chicken fried chicken skins, but I'm tellin' ya, it is AMAZING with some southern fried chicken or even as a dip with some tortilla chips. I'm lovin' how versatile this recipe is and will use it over + over in the future!! Enjoy :)

For the Hot Sauce:

½lb Firm Green Tomatoes, Cut into Slices (this was about 3 large tomatoes for me)

4 Large Shallots, Cut into Slices

½lb Fresh Serranos

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Salt & Pepper, To Taste

2 Large Cloves of Fresh Garlic, Minced

1C Cider Vinegar + 1C White Vinegar

1C Honey (or to taste)

1 Lime, Zested

1T Fresh Cilantro, Minced

Directions:

1. Roasting the Vegetables: Preheat the oven to broil or 500 degrees. Line a baking sheet with a silpat and spread the slices of green tomatoes and shallots evenly on the pan. Drizzle them with olive oil and sprinkle with salt& pepper. Cook them until they are softened and starting to char slightly, about 7-10 minutes, depending on your oven. Scrape the cooked tomatoes and shallots into a food processor. Next, add on the fresh Serranos and toss them with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Cook the peppers until blackened and charred, about 10-12 minutes. Remove them from the oven and let them cool, and then peel off the skins and place them into the food processor along with the tomatoes and shallots.

2. Making the Hot Sauce: Add the minced garlic into the food processor and pulse until the mixture is pureed, but still has a slightly chunky consistency. Blend or whisk in the vinegars, honey, lime zest, and fresh cilantro. Season to taste with salt, pepper, sugar or honey. Pour into jars and preserve.

3. Serve with chicken fried chicken skins or your favorite fried chicken recipe!

Revamped : The Best Fried Chicken I've Ever Made (part two)

Revamped: The Best Fried Chicken I've Ever Made (part two)

So, I went about ranting + raving for actually pulling off southern fried chicken to relative success, but I knew I would soon revamp the recipe to make it better... and um, yeah SO much better. I switched up quite a few things and I'm super glad I did. I simplified the battering technique, because sometimes less is really more, and that never happens around this joint. I bumped the spices by adding a little sugar, ground mustard, and ground thyme. Thyme pairs amazingly with chicken, trust me on this. The wet batter dip is thinned out and is spicier than usual, which we obviously love. But, that is always up to personal preference. I found out that self-rising flour is great for frying chicken, who knew?!? I added a little cornstarch for extra crunch and a little thing that we like to call "chicken nibblets". These crunchy nuggets are a mix between heaven + hell and hold onto your hips for dear life, but heck, enjoy the ride while ya can because it's totally worth it :) All that's left is frying it in a ratty-ole cast iron skillet that's deep with bad-good fat (bad as in unhealthy, good as in super tasty). I bought lard this time, but threw in some bacon fat and duck fat, juz'cuz I could. You know, a good southern woman always has that to go to in the freezer. Oh and PS, check out my next post for slammin' spicy hot sauce!! Enjoy :)

For the Brine:

8C Lukewarm Water

1C Sugar & Kosher Salt (each)

5-6lbs Chicken Wings, Drumsticks, & Thighs (we like a mixture of only dark meat really)

For the Dry Rub:

1T Fresh Cracked Pepper

1 ½t Paprika & Ground Mustard

¾t Cayenne & Granulated Sugar

1t Garlic Powder & Onion Powder

Prepared Brined Chicken, Completely Dried

For the Flour Coating:

3 ¾C Self Rising Flour (AP Flour can be substituted)

½C + 2T Cornstarch

1t Ground Thyme

Salt & Pepper, To Taste

Prepared Dry Rubbed Chicken

¼-½C Buttermilk (to be used in the last step of the breading process) 

For the Wet Batter Dip:

1C Buttermilk

½C Water & Milk

¼-½C Hot Sauce (depending on your heat preference)

For the Fried Chicken:

Brined, Seasoned, & Coasted Chicken Pieces

Fat, For Frying (Peanut Oil, Vegetable Shortening, or Lard for this… even a mix of each one)

Salt & Pepper, To Taste

Honey, Hot Sauce, Pepper Vinegar, or Maple Syrup, For Serving

Directions:

1. For the Brine: Place the chicken into a large Ziploc bag. Combine the water, sugar, and salt in large bowl and whisk until the sugar and salt dissolve. Pour the brine over the chicken and refrigerate for 4-12 hours. Once brined, drain & dry the chicken, and then set aside.

2. For the Dry Rub: Whisk together all of the seasonings until combined. Rub this mixture all over the dried, brined chicken until completely coated. Place the chicken into a bowl, cover, and chill overnight. Once the chicken has marinated, remove the chicken from the refrigerator and let it stand at room temperature for 1 hour.

3. For the Coating: In a brown paper bag, combine the flour, cornstarch, thyme, salt, and pepper. Shake the rubbed chicken in the flour mixture and get rid of  the excess flour from the chicken, and then place them into baking dish that has the mixed combination of buttermilk, hot sauce, and milk/water. Dip the chicken into the wet batter and let the excess batter drip off.  Right before you are ready to fry, drizzle in some of the excess buttermilk into your breading flour mixture. Using a whisk or a fork, stir it around and mash up the larger pieces of flour chunks to form chicken “nibblets” or extra crispy pieces of batter. Finally dredge it in the remaining “nibblet” flour and coat them well. Gently shake off anything excess, but don’t waist no “nibblets”, ya hear!

4. Heat the oil in a deep fryer or cast iron skillet to 350 degrees (we prefer cast iron skillets).

5. Frying the Chicken: Fry the chicken until they are a deep golden brown and cooked through, about 10-15 minutes (possibly longer if you’re chicken is larger, just make sure the juice runs clear, if not, refry or keep warm in the oven to bring them to temperature). Once they are fried, remove them to a wire rack or a plate of paper towels to drain, sprinkle with a little salt & pepper, and keep the chicken warm until ready to serve. Serve with Jack Daniels Maple Syrup, Fresh Serrano Hot Sauce, or Red Pepper Flake Infused Honey… or ya know, some delicious buttermilk waffles.

Classic Fried Chicken & Buttermilk Waffles with Honey & Hot Sauce

As of recently, we've kinda had an obsession with chicken & waffles. We made Nashville Hot Chicken & Waffles, and they were insanely good. Like so good. But then I thought to myself that we hadn't even made a classic chicken & waffles combination first, we had just skipped right to all of the crazy combinations. So we back tracked a little and had to make the essential Southern dish. Instead of making overnight yeasted waffles, we went with slightly sweet and tangy buttermilk waffles. And for the chicken, we marinated them in buttermilk, and then rubbed them down in a spice mixture before coating them with flour. When you order these at a restaurant, they normally come with maple syrup, butter, and hot sauce. But, I seem to like mine way more with honey, but I'll leave that up to you. However, either way, you really can't beat the sweet-heat taste that they provide. These classic chicken and waffles were everything we were hoping them to be. I really can't decide what I like better... chicken & waffles or shrimp & grits. Such a hard decision!! Anyway, enjoy :)

Classic Fried Chicken & Buttermilk Waffles with Honey & Hot Sauce

For the Buttermilk Brine:

1Q Buttermilk

¼C Hot Sauce

2lbs Chicken Wings & Chicken Drumsticks

For the Dry Rub:

1T Salt

2t Pepper

1 ½t Paprika

¾t Cayenne

½t Garlic Powder & Onion Powder

Prepared Brined Chicken, Completely Dried

For the Coating:

2C AP Flour

½C Cornstarch

1C Buttermilk

1 Large Egg

½C Water

Hot Sauce      

Prepared Dry Rubbed Chicken

Peanut Oil, For Frying

For the Fried Chicken:

2lbs Chicken Wings & Chicken Drumsticks

Buttermilk Brine

Dry Rub

Coating

Peanut Oil

Salt & Pepper, To Taste

For the Buttermilk Waffles:

¾C AP Flour

¼C Cornstarch

½t Baking Powder

¼t Baking Soda

½t Salt

2t Sugar

½C Milk & Buttermilk

1/3C Vegetable Oil

1 Large Egg, Lightly Beaten

1t Vanilla   

  

Directions:

1. For the Buttermilk Brine: Whisk buttermilk, hot sauce, salt, and sugar in a large bowl until the sugar and salt dissolve. Add the chicken and refrigerate, covered, for 8 hours. Once brined, remove the chicken from the refrigerator and pat the chicken dry and set them aside. 
2. For the Dry Rub: Whisk together all of the seasonings until combined. Rub this mixture all over the dried, brined chicken until completely coated. Place the chicken into a bowl, cover, and chill overnight. Once the chicken has marinated, remove the chicken from the refrigerator and let it stand at room temperature for 1-2 hours.
3. For the Coating: In a dish, combine the flour, cornstarch, salt, and pepper. In another dish, whisk together the buttermilk, egg, water, and hot sauce until combined. Dredge the wings in the flour mixture and shake the excess flour from the wings, then place them into the wet ingredients, and finally back into the flour, shaking off excess.
4. Frying the Chicken: Heat the peanut oil in a deep fryer to 350 degrees. Fry the wings until they are a deep golden brown and cooked through, about 10-12 minutes. Once the wings are fried, remove them to a wire rack to drain, and then keep them warm in the oven while you make the waffles.
5. 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 whole milk, 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.
6. To Assemble the Chicken & Waffles: Place the buttermilk waffle in the center of your plate and spread with softened butter. Top the waffle with the crispy fried chicken. Serve with honey or sorghum syrup & hot sauce.