Getting Together - While Staying Apart

In the spirit of all of the Zoom/Houseparty hangouts I’ve been participating in in the last couple of weeks, I thought I would try something new this weekend. Zoom Cooking. 

My Uncle Rob is the best. We’ve been close since I was a teenager, and one of the thing that bonds us is our love of the of culinary arts. He and I get together, usually once or twice a month, and go for a meal. Sometime that’s Burgers and Bingo and Matt Bastille’s Lisa Marie (when it was around), a road trip to the best BBQ in the Kawarthas, or an epic Tapas feast at Madrina.

Since we aren’t able to grab a meal together right now I was trying to think of what our version of distant connection would be. Then #TasteToronto posted the recipe for Matt Bastille’s Pad Thai fries, and I knew what we had to do. We were going to cook together, apart. 

I sent an email with the ingredients needed for both Pad Thai fries and a good accompaniment, Fried Chicken. 

• Cilantro

• Lemon/Lemon Juice

• Bean Sprouts

• Limes

• Buttermilk

• Sriracha

• Hot Sauce

• Oil for Frying (Peanut or Canola are good)

• Flour

• Cumin

• Salt

• Chili Powder (anything else you might want to season your flour)

• Peanuts

• Frozen Fries

• Chicken (I'm thinking thighs and drumsticks - skin on bone in but I'll see what is at the store today)

We had a little prep to do before. I like to buttermilk brine my chicken for a minimum of 6 hours, but ideally overnight. So Saturday I took 4 whole chicken legs and cleaned them up, and separated into thighs and drums sticks. I poured 2/3 of the liter of buttermilk into a container, and added a couple of tablespoons of hot sauce to it. Then I popped all 8 pieces into the container, it didn’t quite cover the chicken so I added a bit more buttermilk till all the chicken was fully covered. Then the whole container went into the fridge till the next day. 

Sunday I gathered all the ingredients we’d need, signed into Zoom and got going.

We started with the Pad Thai Fry sauce. The recipe called for 

2 cups Butter

3 cups Sriracha

1 cup lemon juice

I halved that, combined it all in a sauce pan over a medium flame. Once it was combined I brought it to a boil then turned it off and set aside to cool. (NOTE: the recipe called to cook this down over a medium heat, we missed that and did it later - but that’s what you want to do now!)

Once the sauce was set aside it was time to make the chicken. 

I combined 2 cups of flour with some kosher salt and seasoning. I added some Trader Joe’s Chili Lime seasoning. 

Then I set out a cooling rack on top of a sheet pan, and started dredging the chicken in the flour. You want to give the chicken a quick shake and remove excess buttermilk, then pack as much flour onto it as you can and sit it on the cooling rack. You want to give the chicken some time for the flour to hydrate. Once all the chicken is coated I filled a large shallow Le Creuset pan and heated the oil to 325*. 

Once it was to temperature I fried the chicken in two batches, 5 minutes a side. You want to wash your cooling rack once the raw chicken is gone, and then use it to rest the pieces that are already fried (it will help the steam vent and prevent it from going soggy). Then raise the oil temp to 350* and give each piece another 1-2 minutes. If the internal temp on your chicken is below 180* then pop it in the oven straight on the rack. 

With the chicken nearly done it was time to make the fries. The recipe calls for frozen french fries so we both grabbed a bag - I’m in a fully equipped kitchen with access to an air fryer so I used that, but Rob just baked his in the oven according to the instructions on the package. Both methods worked super well, so do what ever you can. 

Once the fries were done I put them, and about half the sauce, into a large bowl and tossed. Once the fries were coated I plated them and topped with chopped peanuts, bean sprouts, cilantro, and a lime wedge, added the chicken and we were good to go!

We moved the computer to the table, and my parents joined us for a late lunch!

The finished projects!

I really liked the whole experience, it was a nice way to spend some time together - doing what we like to do… talk about food and eat food! Plus it was an excuse to make something a little more indulgent than I might have on a Sunday afternoon during a rainstorm.