Chicken and Waffles Sandwich

For some reason I have been craving Chicken and Waffles. I had a savory waffle, stirring inside my head and around my taste buds. I could taste the flavors. Rosemary, thyme, sharp white cheddar waffle with a baked fried piece of chicken and a spicy maple syrup sauce, to be spread on the sandwich. This sandwich had been on my mind for over a week. So last night I made it.

We had a friend over for dinner last night, so this was the perfect dish to make. Plus I knew not only was this dish in good hands with my husband but also Richard. See Richard, his wife Rebecca as well as Daniel and myself are FOODIES!!!! I mean we have vacationed together, just so we could experience the same restaurants and then reminisce for years to come. Plus they are one of our best friends. Basically family. So I knew if this wasn’t good, Daniel and Richard would give me their honest opinion.

I didn’t want fried chicken. But I wanted something that tasted as good if not better then fried chicken and a little healthier. So I baked it. I made a buttermilk mix and let the chicken sit in the fridge for 10hrs. I could have let it sit longer, but honestly it was perfect.

I made a flour mixture and whisked eggs. All for the dredging process. When the chicken came out of the fridge I just shook some excess buttermilk off. And then placed directly into the flour and covered it. Moved it then to the eggs, covered and then straight back to another covering of flour. I placed the boneless chicken thighs, on a baking sheet that had melted butter on it. I baked the chicken at 400 for 15 mins per side and then finished off with the boiler on low for about 2-3mins to crisp them up.

Before I pulled the chicken out of the fridge I made the waffle batter. Now I made two batters. I also used Stonewall Kitchen pancake waffle mix. Now you don’t have to use that, you can make your own and that will be good too. But we just love the way Stonewall Kitchen tastes. I also used milk instead of water for the liquid. The first was a regular waffle batter. I did this, cause our kids can be picky. The second batter was the one I had been dreaming up. This one was loaded with rosemary and thyme from our garden. With handfuls of sharp white cheddar cheese. Oh it was sooo good.

When I had the waffles and chicken cooking, I started making a special sauce, I guess you could call it that. I took some mayonnaise, maple syrup and some Truff Hot Sauce and mixed it all together. It was that extra over the top that it need. The baked fried chicken, my husband said was really good. And was really close to tasting like actual fried chicken. So all in all, it was a grand slam.

Ingredients

Baked Fried Chicken – Buttermilk mixture

• 8 boneless skinless chicken thighs

• 1/2 cup heavy cream

• 1 cup butter milk

• 1/2 cayenne pepper

• 1/2 smoked paprika

• salt and black pepper

• ziplock bag is a must

Flour Mixture

• 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour

• 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs

• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

• 1 tsp of smoked paprika

• 1 tsp garlic powder

• 1 tsp salt

• 1 tsp black pepper

• 3 eggs beaten in a different bowl

• 4 Tbsp melted butter (half a stick)

Directions for Chicken

1) Take a ziplock bag and fit it into a bowl. Next pour all the Buttermilk ingredients into the ziplock bag and whisk, until all is mixed up. Place all the chicken in the bag. Massage the buttermilk into the chicken. Place in the fridge 10-24hrs.

2) Pre heat oven to 400. Before you pull the chicken out of the fridge, you need to make the flour base and the egg wash. In one bowl whisk the eggs and set aside. In a larger bowl, whisk all the dry ingredients together, so everything is incorporated.

3) Line a baking sheet with either a silicon liner or parchment paper. And brush melted butter all over the liner. This will help the chicken get golden brown.

4) Pull the chicken out of the fridge. Take chicken one piece at a time. Shake off some of the buttermilk and place in the flour mixture. Cover all sides of that chicken. Next place in the eggs and cover it all up. Toss back into the flour (this is where you get the extra crispy chicken) and cover it all up. Place the dredged chicken on the buttered liner. Repeat this step for all the chicken.

6) Bake in the oven for 15 min each side, until chicken reads 165 or over. It’s ok if you go over with thighs. They are very forgiving. Once they are finished baking, leave them in the oven and put your broiler on low. Broil your chicken for 2-3 mins, or until you reach your desired crispyness. Pull out of the oven and let rest a min or two.

Savory Waffles

Ingredients

• 3 batches of Stonewall Kitchen pancake waffle batter. (Use milk instead of water) and you will need eggs

• 2 Tbsp fresh rosemary chopped

• 2 Tbsp fresh thyme chopped

• 1 1/2 tsp onion powder

• 1 1/2 tsp garlic powder

• 1 tsp ground black pepper

• 2 large handfuls of sharp white cheddar cheese.

Directions

1) preheat waffle maker. Make the waffle batter according to directions, but use milk. Once the batter, whisk in the rest of the ingredients.

2) Cook your Waffles in your waffle maker. Once finished cooking cut all the waffles and set aside.