Chicken & Waffles B.L.A.T.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend! Been busy in the lab trying to help get some data for a grant that the professor (who I work for) is submitting by the end of the month, hence my lack of wordpress activity. This post has been saved as a draft for about a month! But here it is, in time for Memorial Day! Maybe you are having a picnic, brunch, or other get-together this holiday. A waffle sandwich might hit the spot!

Recently, there seems to be a resurgence in waffle popularity. Nowadays, people are coming up with new dishes using waffle irons. Sorry, the wonut is a bit too over-the-top for me. Nevertheless, I am down to try my hand at waffle sandwiches, as kooky as that may sound. A couple of weeks a go, on a bus ride home, I was thinking about chicken and waffles and craving it. I thought to myself, how about a chicken & waffle B.L.A.T (bacon, lettuce, avocado, tomato) sandwich with sourdough cheddar and chive waffles!?

I was already gearing up to make waffles using my sourdough starter so I picked up the rest of the ingredients before I went home. Good thing I got done with my experiments in the lab early that day so that I could waffle around! hehehe

Don’t feel like frying chicken? No worries. You can use your oven to get crispy chicken! It’s even easier than frying! Just dip some chicken into thick Greek yogurt with your choice of seasonings and then bread with panko (or whatever else you like to bread things with). Bake until GBD (golden-brown and delicious).  I often make this because once I pop the chicken into the oven, I can go do other things, like play with the dogs or crank out a workout.

If you have leftovers, you can re-crisp in the toaster oven (or regular oven)

What’s this goop? A science experiment? Well kind of. It’s my sourdough starter for the waffle batter. I was lazy to make my own starter, so I got it from Breadtopia. Really reliable starter. Great quality. I definitely recommend them! If you are new to sourdough or looking for some bread-baking tips and tricks, Breadtopia is a really informative website. I fed my starter and waited about 12 hours until using it in the recipe. Plus, if you are trying to find a way to use starter that you would normally toss out, you could use it up in this recipe!

Cheddar and chives makes this a savory waffle!  I used this British-style Double-Decker Cheese, which is a must try if you love cheddar. It is a slab of both Red Leicester and Gloucester cheeses. I really like this brand of cheese. High quality and no funky chemical additives. True to the age-old cheese making tradition. You can use this or any other cheddar.

In contrast to other yeast-based or sourdough waffle recipes, you don’t have to let the batter rest, though you do have to rely on baking soda and baking powder for  lift. It’s like a hybrid recipe. I also used a multi-grain baking and pancake mix, which has ingredients that I’m fine with. You can use your favorite pancake/waffle mix or just use plain flour and add the baking soda and baking powder as in the recipe below, later in this post.

Mmmm.

Can’t say anything else about these beauties.

Waffles and sticky-ness go hand in hand, so I had to incorporate that element in this sandwich with a sauce. I combine 3 of my favorite condiments:  maple syrup, dijon mustard, and SRIRACHA! Sweet, savory, and heat!

With everything else going on in the sandwich, I felt like a good companion would be some hearty bitter lettuce leaves. Arugula or a spring lettuce mix would bring together all of the other sweet and savory elements. Or maybe I just really like arugula. Use your favorite lettuce if you don’t like arugula.

That ain’t burnt bacon. It’s black forest bacon. I like to put a few pieces on the bottom with some of the sauce.

Then goes the crispy chicken, toasty enough to my liking.

Tomato, avocado slices…almost ready!

Then plop on a generous amount of lettuce and sauce. You can stop here for a badass open-face sandwich aka waffle tartine.

Or put the top on. Whatever you want. Top or topless–more power to you.

Cut them in half and serve slider-style for a cute, yet hefty appetizer, perfect for a holiday and get-together for good times.

adapted from The Candid Appetite

Ingredients

• Crispy baked chicken breasts (recipe below, or use your favorite fried/baked crispy chicken recipe)
• Sourdough Cheddar and Chives Waffles (recipe below, or use your favorite waffle recipe and add to the batter ~1 cup shredded cheddar and ~1/4-1/2 cup thinly sliced chives/green onions)
• Spicy Maple-Mustard Sauce: mix together real maple syrup, grainy mustard, dijon mustard, and Sriracha, all to taste)
• Mayo, homemade preferred (optional)
• Bacon, cooked
• Tomato slices
• avocado slices
• lettuce (highly suggested:  arugula or a lettuce mix with some bitter salad greens)

1. Prepare the chicken, waffles, and sauce ahead of time. The sauce can be prepared a couple days before and stored in the fridge.
2. Assemble the sandwiches–suggested order:

• Bottom waffle slice
• a little mayo shmear and sauce
• bacon slices
• crispy chicken
• tomato slice
• avocado slices
• lettuce
• another mayo shmear and sauce
• waffle top
• drizzle with some more sauce (optional)

Crispy Baked Chicken Breasts

• 1 cup panko bread crumbs (or your favorite breading ingredient, Italian bread crumbs, gluten-free bread crumbs, or even ground almonds, ground corn flakes, or ground potato chips–lots of options!)
• 1 cup Greek yogurt (whole milk preferred)
• salt & pepper, to taste
• other spices such as paprika, onion powder, garlic, chili powder, lemon zest, to taste
• 2 chicken breasts, cut in half crosswise to make 4 thin pieces
• Dash of cooking oil

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease/line a baking sheet with parchment, pan-lining paper, or foil.
2. Season the bread crumbs with salt & pepper and other seasonings, to taste.
3. Season the Greek yogurt with salt & pepper and other seasonings, to taste.
4. Cut the 4 thin pieces of chicken to fit the size of your waffle sandwich. For slider size, cut each thin breast half in three pieces for a total of 12 small pieces.
5. Dip the chicken pieces in the seasoned Greek yogurt, making sure to coat the chicken.
6. Dip the chicken into the seasoned bread crumbs, leaving no bare spot behind.
7. Place on the prepared baking sheet. Drizzle each breaded chicken piece with a little oil and bake 25-30 minutes until golden brown and chicken is cooked through (internal temperature:  165 degrees F).

Sourdough Cheddar & Chives Waffles

• 1 and 1/4 cup pancake/waffle mix–(any type such as buttermilk, multi-grain, or gluten-free. Alternatively you could use 1 and 1/4 cup flour + 2 teaspoons baking powder & 1/4 teaspoon baking soda.)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2-1 tablespoon coconut sugar (or brown sugar)
• 1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1/4-1/2 cup chives or green onion, thinly sliced
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup sourdough starter (any kind–rye, white, spelt, or gluten-free ones like quinoa)
• 1/4 cup oil
• 3/4 cup milk (can also use buttermilk or even non-dairy)
• Cooking oil

1. Dry ingredients:  in a bowl, mix together the self-raising flour or pancake/waffle mix, salt, sugar, cheese and chives/green onion.
2. Wet ingredients:  in another bowl, beat egg, starter, oil and milk.
3. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and mix until just combined and no pockets of flour remain.
4. Heat your waffle griddle. Grease waffle iron with cooking oil and pour 1/4 – 1/2 cup batter per waffle.
5. Bake for a couple minutes until golden brown.

 

 

 

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