Cupcake Fried Chicken and Lasagna Sandwiches

[talon]

If you buy something like this at a restaurant, it will likely be packed with preservatives, salt, and all kinds of sugars to enhance the flavor. You won't need to enhance the flavor if you make it tasty from the start.

First there's the Cupcake Fried Chicken. It's a simple dish done a bit differently. You can use red velvet cake or any chocolate cake that doesn't have chocolate chunks or melty bits in it. You could probably use a strawberry cake or a yellow cake, even, but the best taste is achieved with a red velvet or a chocolate cake - the darker the chocolate the better!

1 whole no-water added fryer chicken, cut into pieces (wings, breasts, thighs, legs - reserve the rest of the chicken carcass for making stock)
3 quarts water
1 quart fruit juice (raspberry is my favorite, but apple, cran-raspberry, cran-apple, or cranberry are also good)
1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup sugar
Mixed spices and herbs: 2 bruised cloves, ¼ teaspoon freshly ground allspice, ¼ teaspoon freshly grated gingerroot, 4 bay leaves, ½ teaspoon crushed cocoa nibs, 8 freshly crushed peppercorns, and 3" fresh rosemary
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vinegar (distilled white gives a clear, sharp taste, cider vinegar a slightly sweeter mellower taste, and rice vinegar a tarter taste)
1 - 2 tablespoon Dutch Processed cocoa powder
1 ½ cups flour1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 tablespoon red food coloring if you plan to use the red velvet cake crumbs
2 cups dried red velvet cake crumbs or other cake crumbs (devil's food chocolate is my favorite)

Cooking oil

Don't be distressed by the lengthy list or the time it takes to make this. It will be worth it, and the work itself is quick and easy. You just have a lot of waiting time.

Step One: Let's start with the chicken. Before we do anything else with it, we need to brine it. To do that, take 2 quarts of water, the cup of kosher salt, and the half cup of sugar and bring these to a boil, stirring until it's all dissolved. Add the herbs and spices and allow to cool completely. Add the fruit juice and the rest of the water and chill to about 40ºF. Add the chicken, either whole or already cut up. If whole, let it soak in the brine for between 4 and 8 hours, if cut up, let it sit in the brine for 2 to 6 hours. Drain the chicken, rinse it, pat it dry. If you haven't cut up the chicken yet, now's the time to do so because you'll need the chicken in frying sized pieces for the rest of this.

Step Two:: The marinade. Beat together the buttermilk, 1 cup sugar, vinegar, cocoa powder, vanilla, flour, egg, and red food coloring into a nice batter. Dip the chicken in this batter and make sure it's well coated, Slip it back in the refrigerator and let it marinate for about 2 hours.

Step Three: Coating the Chicken. Remove the chicken from the batter and let it drain on a wire rack with a pan to catch the drippings beneath it. When the excess has drained off the chicken, but there's still a nice coating of batter on it, completely coat each piece in the dried red velvet cake crumbs. Set the coated chicken in the refrigerator for an hour to let the coating set.

Step Four: Frying the Chicken. Bring a vat or cast iron skillet of cooking oil to frying temperature (375ºF). Take the chicken out of the refrigerator. Fry just a few pieces at a time in the hot oil until it's done - about 15 minutes per side if the oil isn't deep enough to cover the entire chicken and you have to turn it. Check to see if it's reached an internal temperature of 165ºF if you have a meat thermometer. Drain on paper towels. Serve with cream cheese mashed potatoes and chocolate gravy.

Lasagna Sandwich

This is much simpler and less time consuming that the Cupcake Fried Chicken. Since it's a leftover meal, you'll need some lasagna. Most lasagnas are too deep for a sandwich, so divide the lasagna in half. These sandwiches freeze well, so if you have leftover lasagna (I never do, I have to sneak bake extra lasagna in order to get sandwiches), you can make up these sandwiches, freeze them, and take them to work to enjoy either cold or warmed up in a microwave. You will need 2 slices of sturdy bread - a ciabatta bread or thick slices of garlicky Italian bread; mozzarella mayonnaise, a slice each of provolone and cheddar (I prefer sharp or extra sharp cheddar), and if desired, lettuce and sliced tomatoes, and enough lasagna to fill the sandwich. To make the mozzarella mayonnaise, stir together 1 tablespoon finely shredded mozzarella, 1 teaspoon grated Parmesan or Romano cheese, ½ teaspoon California Garlic Bread Seasoning Blend, and 2 tablespoons mayonnaise.

If you are going to freeze your lasagna sandwiches, leave off the mozzarella mayonnaise and lettuce and tomato, add those after the sandwich thaws.

If your lasagna is skimpy on the tomato sauce (mine never is), you can also add some spaghetti or pizza or marinara sauce to the sandwich to make it moister.

When I make these sandwiches to eat right away, with warm lasagna, I make toasted slices of garlic bread, top it with a layer of lettuce and tomatoes, then a layer of warm lasagna (noodles, meat sauce, and all), slices of cheese that go all melty between the warm lasagna and the hot bread, and I skip the mozzarella mayonnaise.

If I freeze it to take for work lunches, I carry the lettuce and tomato is one container, cheese slices in another and the mozzarella mayonnaise in a third, freeze the lasagna between untoasted Italian bread and warm it in the microwave at work, then assemble it all there to eat. It's softer than the crunchy toasted version, but just as tasty.

If you bring a container of marinara sauce, you can dip the sandwich in that, which makes it even better, in my opinion.