Hi, I'm Rachel.

A few years ago I could barely boil water.

True story.

Determined to be a kick ass wife, I developed a love for football and learned to cook in my tiny Jersey City kitchen. I spend my days working in Manhattan, my nights and weekends chasing after a rambunctious toddler, and the hours in between cooking with my husband and feeding my TV habit...oh, and I blog about it all! 

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« A Whole Lotta Superbowl Food | Main | Snickerdoodle Dip »
Thursday
Feb032011

Double Feature Party Eats: Scallion Pancakes + Crunchy Chicken Nuggets

Happy Friday! I'm psyched for a weekend of birthday parties, Superbowl parties and hopefully a good movie somewhere in there. After thoroughly enjoying The Fighter last weekend, I have True Grit and The King's Speech in my sights. What are your weekend plans?

So with yesterday’s Snickerdoodle Dip, I promised you some more football recipes. And since time is running out, I’m bringing you 2 recipes today. First up are my scallion pancakes which I made for Shaun last week.

With a bunch of scallions in my fridge, I knew this would be the perfect way to use ‘em. Albeit not the healthiest. This is a natural party food since it can easily be cut into wedges and served on a nice platter with your not-so-fancy-but-people-will-think-it-is dipping sauce. Oh and though I haven’t tried it, I’m fairly sure that you could easily make these in advance and simply reheat them at your gathering.



Scallion Pancakes + Ginger Sauce
*Adapted from Ming Tsai
For the scallion pancake:
2 C all purpose flour + more for dusting
1 C boiling water
1/2 C scallions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup canola oil
Olive oil
Salt and black pepper to taste
For the ginger sauce:
⅓ C soy sauce
1 tbsp candied ginger, minced (or 1 tsp ground ginger)
1 tsp scallions, finely chopped

Place flour in food processor.* With the motor running, slowly stream in the boiling water and process until a ball of dough comes together. Remove the dough ball and place in a mixing bowl, covered with a damp paper towel. Let rest for 30 minutes. On a floured surface, roll out the dough into a thin rectangle. Brush with a bit of olive oil and sprinkle the scallions, salt and pepper on top.


Roll it up (just like in my spinach pinwheels).


Slice the roll into 4 sections.

This is where it gets tricky and isn’t quite and exact science. Take each piece and carefully roll/stretch in your hands until it’s long enough to fold the ends into itself. At this point, simply form into a patty.

It’s not an exact science, but you’d like to get about a 6 inch pancake out of this without spilling scallions everywhere. Once all the pieces are rolled, pan sear in a heated and oiled skillet until each side is golden brown. I did 2 at a time. To keep them from getting soggy, I let them rest on a wire rack when finished.

Cut each pancake into 4 wedges and place on a platter. In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, ginger and scallions.

Serve in a small dip bowl or cup alongside the scallion pancakes.

*If you don't have a food processor, you can do this in a giant mixing bowl with a wooden spoon. But be careful while handling the hot water!

And since I love you guys, I’m giving you yet another finger food recipe that’s perfect for a party. It’s not all that different than when I shared the buffalo tenders with blue cheese sauce, but this time, we’re going nuggets and an easier dredging process.

Crunchy Chicken Nuggets, 2 Ways
*Adapted from Rocco DiSpirito's Now Eat This!
1 lb chicken breast
2 C panko breadcrumbs (I could only find regular, not whole wheat)
2/3 C Greek yogurt, 0%
1 lb chicken tenders
Kosher salt
Black pepper
Nonstick cooking spray
1/2 C Rocco's blue cheese dressing
1/3 C Franks' Red Hot
2 tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut the chicken breasts into strips and then into nuggets. Dredge in Greek yogurt (trust me, you will never look back) and coat with panko. On a wire rack (placed over a foil-lined baking sheet), sprinkle with kosher salt & pepper and spray with cooking spray. Bake until cooked through, about 14 minutes.

 

Serve on a small platter and make the buffalo sauce. In a saucepan, heat the Frank's Red Hot with the butter until melted. Serve in a small bowl along with the blue cheese dressing.

To change these up again, simply make the nuggets and serve with honey mustard or any other dipping sauces!

So there you have it. 2 simple recipes that will have your Superbowl-cheering friends loving you and your cooking prowess. What are your favorite party foods? Will you be celebrating the American tradition on Sunday?

Psst...looking for more Superbowl recipe ideas? Try these on for size:

Pizza Dip

Queso Dip

Roasted Garlic & Goat Cheese Crostini

Sundried Tomato & Olive Tapenade

Carmelized Potato & Parsnip Tart

Three Bean Chili

Gorgonzola Fig Crostini

...and lots more that I'll share in a full roundup tomorrow!

 

Reader Comments (11)

Scallion pancakes?! Sign me up for that shiz! :D

February 4, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterChristin@purplebirdblog

Glad my husband is sleeping, if he were reading over my shoulder (so happens!) he would start whining that I havent made him nuggets in ages! teeheee! Everything looks amazing as always <3 =)

February 4, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterJenn L @ Peas & Crayons

What a fun and tasty meal! Enjoy the weekend:-)

February 4, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterLauren at KeepItSweet

whaaaat?! those scallion pancakes look insanely good. i must make them. and i love making baked chicken nugs :) happy friday!

The title of this post had me excited right away-those are the most unusual combos of food i'm loving it!!!

February 4, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterKristina

Love scallion pancakes!! Which of these will you be making for Sunday!?

February 4, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterKimberly

definitely the buffalo nuggets but can do the pancakes too if you want!

February 4, 2011 | Registered CommenterRachel

Both of those look delish! What a great idea...yum :)
I'm probably not going to watch the superbowl this year...I purposely didn't make plans because I want to do work all day---crazy how that is exciting to me! But the thought of starting next week completely prepared sounds better than the football game...lovin the party recipes though!

February 4, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterLisa

Those chicken nuggets look so good!

February 4, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterCynthia

Both of those look awesome! I won't be watching the game, but maybe i will send some tasty treats with my husband to his game-day party!

February 4, 2011 | Unregistered Commenterhailey @ nakedcupcakes

Those pancakes look totally amazing - and I think they are *pretty* healthy! I have been craving pancakes of all sorts since I started the sugar detox!

February 4, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterLauraJayne

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