Game Time

If you are into tailgating or you prefer watching the game at home, either way – it is time to serve up fun foods.  Sure you can buy the usual chips and dips, but how fun is that?

Main dishes such as burgers, hot dogs, sandwiches, wraps – they all go with fries. Even if these fries are the main dish, they will be a hit.

Homemade fries that are battered have lots of flavor and the batter helps keep them hot longer.  (A secret that restaurants have known for years.) Tenda-Bake Seasoned Flour is ready to go with the perfect seasoning that everyone loves!

Try this simple recipe and you will be hooked.

Chicken Fried Potatoes

Serves about 8

2 pounds baby or fingerling potatoes

1 cup buttermilk or milk

2 cups Tenda-Bake Seasoned Flour Mix

Peanut or vegetable oil to fill fryer

Slice potatoes 1/8-inch thick, only if they are larger than 1/8-inch thickness, and soak in cold buttermilk.  (If they are small fingerling potatoes, you do not need to slice.) You can leave the peel on the potatoes or remove it as you like.

Pour 2 cups of seasoned flour mix in a plastic or paper bag. Drain the potatoes and toss a few at a time with the seasoned flour mix.  Remove from the bag, dusting off any excess seasoned flour and return to the milk.  Soak briefly, drain and return the potatoes to the bag for a final coating. Continue until all of the potatoes are coated. (Using a colander, helps to drain and transfer the potatoes.)

Preheat oil in a deep heavy skillet filled no more than 1/3 with oil or a deep fryer.  Heat oil to 425 degrees. Cook in small batches so the potatoes do not touch.  Cook for 2 to 3 minutes on each side.  Remove from skillet and drain on paper towels or a rack over a baking sheet.

Serve hot with ketchup.

Batter Up – Okra Corn Dogs

If you have a corn dog lover or two at your house, try making them at home with this simple batter recipe.  It is summer fun at home.

The flavor of the Tenda-Bake® Seasoned Flour and Coating Mix is always perfect for flavoring chicken nuggets to your favorite vegetables to yes even corn dogs.  The folks at Midstate Mills created this mix to not be too spicy or too bland, so it goes with just about anything and is the secret ingredient for success for coating…well…anything.

So then we thought, why not batter other things with this batter recipe?  Since one of the family owners at the mill got a bit carried away with okra planting this year, we dipped it in the batter and had it corn dog style.  It is delicious!  The list goes on and on, what is growing in your garden?   Batter it up – enjoy!

Corn Dog Batter

Peanut oil

1 cup Tenda-Bake® Seasoned Flour and Coating Mix

1 ½ cups Tenda-Bake® Yellow Corn Meal Mix

1 ¼ cup milk

1 egg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Pour seasoning and coating mix into a bowl.

Combine corn meal mix, milk and egg in a large bowl.  Whisk until smooth.

If you are using skewers, place the food you are preparing on the skewer. Dip the corndogs, okra or whatever you are dipping into the seasoning mix and then into the corn meal batter.

Preheat deep fryer or use a deep heavy saucepan to heat oil to 350 degrees.  Cook until golden brown, about 5 minutes and remove using tongs.  Place on a rack that is sitting on a baking sheet to drain.

Place in oven for 5 minutes on rack pan, until you are finished frying and to insure the food is cooked through.

“Tobacco” Onions

This summer, barbecues will be buzzing when you offer frizzy tangles of superthin onions, breaded and fried so they look like dried-tobacco. Offer an all-you-can-eat buffet of crunchy, salty goodness.

This is not a new invention.  They were created in the 80’s by a star chef in Texas at a place called The Mansion on Turtle Creek.  Since then, they have been imitated at steak houses and barbecue joints everywhere.  However, do you ever make them at home?

You can! The Tenda-Bake Seasoned Flour and Coating Mix gives a great flavor and makes this a two-ingredient recipe.  You can’t get easier than that!  And they cook faster than you can fire up the grill.  By the time your steaks, burgers, or barbecues are done you can have the side ready.

We fancied up the presentation – restaurant style- for the photo.  Wow your guests by making a cone with parchment paper, put in it a drinking glass, and fill it up with onions.

More than just a side dish, they’re great on sandwiches, atop salads, and they are infinitely better as a topping for your green bean casserole.

Serves 4-6

2 large sweet onions, peeled and thinly sliced, about 4 cups

2 cups Tenda-Bake® Seasoned Flour and Coating Mix

Canola oil for frying

1.  Toss the onions to separate the rings.  Place in a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle some of the seasoned flour and coating mix over the onions, then toss, add a little more of the coating mix, and toss again.  Add in the rest of the coating mix and toss once more.  Doing the additions this way helps the coating mix to coat the onions better.  Let the onions sit at least 5 minutes.
2. Set a 3- or 4-quart saucepan over medium heat.  Fill the pan about half full with the oil.  Bring the temperature to 350 degrees.  Take a baking sheet and place a wire rack on top.  Set aside.  Fry the onions in batches, about 5-6 minutes or until crispy.  Drain and place on the wire rack.  Continue until all the onions are fried.  Serve immediately.

 

 

Asparagus

June is here, get your asparagus before it is gone!

You can eat it raw, grill it, roast it, steam it, bake it, and FRY it! Frying asparagus takes the thin, tall crisp stalks to new heights. Kids can’t wait to get their hands on them. Yes, kids who would turn their noses up at any green vegetable will now eat them with a smile. Adults too.

We used a combination of flour and panko bread crumbs for this recipe. Panko crumbs can be found in any grocery store, they are crisp but have no flavor. We kicked up the flavor using Tenda-Bake® Seasoned Flour and Coating Mix. The coating mix helps hold the panko crumbs on the asparagus and gives just the right flavor, not too spicy to the breading.

Here are some fun asparagus facts from the Michigan Asparagus Advisory Board. No, we didn’t make that up.

- It is one of the most nutritionally well-balanced vegetables in existence.
- Asparagus is a member of the Lily family.
- It can grow 10” in 24 hours.
- It is not harvested for 3 years, so planting it at home is a lesson in patience.
- The larger the diameter the better the quality.

So get the fryer going!

Asparagus Frites

These are a great healthier twist on your everyday French fry.

5 cup peanut oil
2 bunches of fresh asparagus
2 cups Southern Biscuit® All Purpose Flour
3 eggs
3 tablespooons water
2 cups panko bread crumbs
½ cup Tenda-Bake® Seasoned Flour and Coating Mix

Heat the oil in a large cast iron skillet, filled no more than 1/3 full with oil.
Trim the asparagus and set aside.

Fill three mixing bowls sitting side by side; put the flour in the first one; the egg and water in the next one; whisk well; then in the third one add panko crumbs and combine with the seasoned flour and coating mix.

Coat the asparagus in the flour, dip in the egg and water mixture, then the seasoned flour mixture. I like to use tongs. Once out of the seasoned flour mixture, put onto a dinner plate until all the asparagus are breaded.

Then test the oil with a bread crumb to make sure the oil is hot enough, crumb should sizzle immediately. Place the asparagus into the pan, make sure to not over-crowd the skillet and cook until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Place asparagus on a plate lined with paper towels.

Serve with, fresh lemon, tomato ketchup, whole grain mustard, or malt vinegar.