Dreaming of France

     On Sunday I took my boyfriend to the airport for his month long trip to France.  He'll be cooking in a restaurant in Paris for 2 weeks and traveling around northern France for the other two.  Four weeks of incredible food, wine, and exploring a beautiful country.  Well, I'm pretty darn jealous, and I'm missing him a lot.  So, I decided I needed to have my own small food adventures around town while he is gone.
     This morning I went over to An Xuyen Bakery on 54th and Foster.  I'd read great things about their  French and Vietnamese breads and pastries, and I've been craving a Banh Mi sandwich...it was calling my name.  The tiny shop was overflowing with beautiful pastries, breads, and buns.  They also make specialty cakes and wedding cakes.  I purchased a traditional banh mi, a baguette, a Walnut Crisp (basically a flat round of puff pastry covered in sugar and studded with walnuts), and a guava cookie.  $5.23!  What a steal.
Shiny display case, great prices, they're really winning me over.  And the taste followed through.
The banh mi was nice- crunchy vegetables and spicy mayonnaise.  The crisp would be perfect with an espresso with a bit of cream.  I'm a sucker for the flaky layers of butter and sugar.  But it's this guava cookie that really sealed the deal.  I'd like to go back and get ten more.  I didn't realize what I was getting.
It just looked like a sugar cookie with bits of guava flecked through it.  Boy was I wrong.  The most tender, buttery crumb opened to a gooey, deep rose, guava jelly interior.  It was so delicate that it barely held together as I bit into it.  This is the best mood I've been in since my blues began on Sunday morning.
So, this will just have to be a month of food finds, new restaurants, and experimenting in the kitchen.  Maybe I'll learn something fabulous too.

Batter Fried Chicken

     Eric loves to tease me about my accent, which he does by attempting to imitate me.  We've been working on the subtle, yet important, differences between country and southern accents.  Lately, I find his mimicry to be very similar to that of the characters in the Country Bear Jamboree  ride at Disney World.  Exaggerated is an understatement, but this is really a vast improvement.  However, I thought I'd indulge him a little and stick to my southern roots by making some fried chicken for dinner.
      Last summer my mother and I used a batter recipe from a Cook's Country issue, and it was far superior to other fried chicken in my vast fried chicken eating experience.  Needless to say, I went that route again Tuesday night.  The chicken goes into a quick brine while the batter is whisked together  and rests in the fridge.  The batter is a simple combination of flour, cornstarch, baking powder, salt, pepper, paprika, cayenne, and cold water.  The chicken is patted dry, dipped in the batter, and dunked straight into the hot oil.  The oil is heated to 325 and each batch takes between 12 and 15 minutes.  Couldn't get much simpler. No extra long soaking times necessary, and the chicken is incredibly moist and juicy.  I love that the batter is spicy, light, and crispy.  I don't feel weighed down like I do with heavily breaded fried chicken.  Plus, with my handy countertop fryer, I got out of the deal without greasy splatter and stink all over me and the kitchen.
      We ate our chicken with big, fluffy cheddar biscuits.  Their golden, crunchy tops and soft crumb were perfect for spreading on butter and honey.  And even though it was a little out of place with the rest of our meal, we thought the biscuits were just begging us to try the new, expensive French butter Eric found recently at a local specialty market.  Yea, that was a winner.
      I also made my favorite baked beans in individual cast iron pots.  I crave this recipe of my mom's from Our Country Cookin', and it was always my request at any meal worthy of baked beans.  And with some fried 'taters on the side, we were more than full.
      So, Eric can laugh about the southern accent all he wants, but he clearly can't deny the food that comes with it.  He managed to eat all the leftover chicken for both lunch and dinner yesterday.  I think he liked it.