May 22, 2020
I still can’t believe Memorial Day weekend is already here. This week marks two months since Kevin and I started working from home. It still feels pretty surreal. I feel like my days are blurred together and sometimes I can’t even tell what day of the week it is. Over the last couple of months, I have been able to spend more time planning meals, cooking all of my favorite foods, and testing out new ideas. With Memorial Day weekend coming up, it means summer weather is not too far away. I always looked forward to the end of May because it marks the transition from spring to summer. Summer days in Ohio are usually filled with cookouts, cool treats, and outdoor activities. Away goes the casserole cookware and hearty dishes and out comes the large serving bowls and lighter meals. Pasta salads and garden Cobb salads become summer staples. Let’s not forget about the essential s’mores. Growing up, s’mores always meant reaching for the box of Honey Maid Graham Crackers, Hershey’s Milk Chocolate bars, and Jet-Puffed Marshmallows. Pair the s’mores with a makeshift backyard bonfire and I had my perfect summer activity. Summertime is also the perfect time to have picnics. When I lived in New York, I would pack some sandwiches, homemade treats, and cold drinks, and head to the beach with friends. We would spend countless summer days having picnics on the beach. Even after so many years, I still think back to all of my favorite summer picnic cooking and baking adventures for inspiration. Since the weather hasn’t been the greatest all week, I ended up preparing a lot of my favorite classic picnic foods and having a picnic indoors with Kevin. I made some crispy chicken strips with a honey mustard dip, blackberry galette, strawberry tomato salad, and green smoothies for our indoor picnic. My crispy chicken strips are a simplified version of my pretzel crusted chicken strips. They’re perfectly crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. My honey drizzled blackberry galette is another take on my favorite galette. To ensure both Kevin and I were getting our daily serving of veggies, I prepared some green smoothies and a simple strawberry tomato salad served with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and olive oil (just like how we enjoyed every salad in Italy). My favorite version of green smoothies lately features frozen peaches, frozen banana, tons of kale, and a few splashes of apple juice to help everything come together. These green smoothies are truly irresistible. I get all of the fruity flavor without even tasting the kale. Kevin and I enjoyed our picnic at home indoors and marveled in the joy of our favorite picnic foods while we tentatively planned our next adventure. With everything going on, we can’t even estimate when our next travel adventure will be.
For the classic crispy chicken strips and honey mustard:
· 8-10 chicken tenders (or 2 chicken breasts cut into about eight to ten strips)
· ½ cup buttermilk
· ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
· ¼ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
· ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
· a couple dashes of Tabasco
· ½ cup vegetable oil
· 1 cup all-purpose flour
· ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
· ¼ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
· ¼ teaspoon paprika
· ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
· 2 large eggs
For the honey mustard:
· 1 tablespoon honey
· 2 tablespoons mustard
Directions:
The evening before:
Marinate the chicken strips in the buttermilk, ¼ teaspoon kosher salt, ¼ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper, ¼ teaspoon garlic powder, and Tabasco overnight.
The next day:
1) Preheat oven to 350°F. Place a rack on top of a baking sheet. Set aside.
2) Heat a skillet on medium heat. Add the vegetable oil. Let the vegetable oil heat up before frying the chicken. The oil is ready when you see waves form in the oil.
3) In a bowl, combine the flour, salt, black pepper, paprika, and garlic powder. Use a fork to combine the ingredients. Set aside.
4) In another bowl, add the two eggs. Use a fork (or whisk) to lightly beat the eggs. Set aside.
5) Use chopsticks (or tongs) to pick up one piece of chicken. Dip the chicken in the flour mixture. Turn the chicken to coat in the flour mixture. Dip the chicken in the whisked eggs and turn to coat the chicken in the whisked eggs. Dip the chicken back in the flour mixture. Turn to coat the chicken. Remove the coated chicken to a plate. Continue this process with the rest of the chicken strips until all chicken pieces are coated.
6) Fry the chicken in the skillet two pieces at a time for about 2-3 minutes per side until the chicken tenders are golden brown. Transfer the chicken strips to the baking sheet topped with a rack. Continue this process with the rest of the chicken strips until all of the chicken strips are fried. Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes.
7) To make the honey mustard, combine the honey and mustard in a small sauce bowl. Stir to combine.
For the Honey Blackberry Galette:
For the pie dough:
· my homemade pie dough recipe
For the filling:
· 1 pint blackberries
· 1 teaspoon turbinado sugar
Egg Wash:
· 1 large egg
· 1 tablespoon water
· 1 tablespoon honey
Directions:
1) To make the pie dough, follow the instructions for my pie dough recipe here. Instead of separating the pie dough into two separate discs, keep the pie dough as one disc. Alternatively, you can also use store-bought pie dough.
2) To make the galette, preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
3) Roll out the pie dough onto the parchment lined baking sheet. Arrange the blackberries in a circle around the pie dough. Leave about a half or an inch width around the edge of the pie dough. Trim off any excess dough. Fold the edges of the pie dough towards the center around all sides.
4) To make the egg wash, whisk together the egg and water until combined.
5) Brush the egg wash around the edges of the galette. Sprinkle the galette with the turbinado sugar.
6) Place the baking sheet with the galette into the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes. Remove the baking sheet from the oven. Drizzle on the honey and serve.
Takeaways: When making the crispy chicken strips this time around, I didn’t have buttermilk. Instead, I substituted ½ cup of whole milk and a tablespoon of red wine vinegar. After a few minutes, I had instant buttermilk.