Olympic sliders

A quick note before we get to today’s recipe: If you read yesterday’s post about the amazing cauliflower, you’ll recall that I said my friend, Ronnie had the dish at the Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans. Ronnie sent me a fabulous photo of the hotel lobby all decked out for Christmas. It’s a must-see, so I’ve added it to the bottom of that post, for all to enjoy. Check it out!

So… I heard about an amazing snack that is served at a bar in Brooklyn. The bar is called Pork Slope and the appetizer  – Is chicken & Waffle Sliders. How perfect would that have been for the Super Bowl?!?

Via

Dang it. Oh well, you know what I did? I served it as our Official Olympics Opening Ceremony Snack. Yeah, take that lopsided 2014 Super Bowl! You were not worthy of these Olympic sliders!

I found a recipe online, changed it just a tad… and …. it was a major hit with my two guys.

A quick word about the frozen waffles. The recipe I found called for Aunt Jemima’s frozen square waffles. I could not find Aunt Jemima waffles at my grocery store, nor could I find square waffles. Belgium waffles – that was all they had in any and all brands. The closest thing to a square that I was able to find were octagonal waffles.

What you want to use for each slider is four squares of a waffle for the top “bun” and another four square piece for the bottom “bun.”  Here is what I did.

Take a waffle.

Cut 3 “four square” pieces from each waffle.

A package of 6 frozen octagonal waffles yielded 9 sliders. Here’s the math:

6 waffles = 18 “buns” = 9 sliders

 

Chicken & Waffle Sliders with Spicy Maple Syrup

Spicy Maple Syrup
1 cup maple syrup
2 tablespoons Sriracha sauce
2 tablespoons Frank’s RedHot Original Sauce

Sliders
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
6 frozen waffles
1 cup Greek plain yogurt
1 cup Frank’s RedHot Original Sauce
6 strips thick-cut bacon, cut in half crossways and cooked crisp
3 slices pepper Jack cheese, each quartered (you’ll have 3 extra pieces for a “chef treat”)
1 ½ cups rice flour, divided
Vegetable oil, for deep-frying
Pinch of salt

Spicy Maple Syrup: Whisk together all ingredients and set aside.

Sliders: Combine the yogurt and Frank’s RedHot Original Sauce in a large ziplock bag. Cut chicken breasts into 2 x 4-inch strips.  Add chicken strips to bag, zip bag closed and massage to coat chicken with the marinade. Refrigerate to marinate for at least 5 hours or up to overnight.

Pour at least 4 inches of vegetable oil into a large pot. Make sure the oil does not fill the pot more than halfway. Use a high-temperature thermometer and heat the oil to 350 degrees.

Divide the rice flour between two medium bowls, 3/4 cup in the first bowl and 3/4 cup in the second bowl.

Leave the first bowl as is. Mix  1  1/2 cups water; add a pinch of salt into the other bowl and whisk into a batter. Be certain to whisk the batter again before coating the chicken, as the rice flour will settle to the bottom of the bowl as it sits.

Toss the marinated chicken into the bowl with the dry rice flour until covered with rice flour.

Then coat the chicken in the batter and carefully drop in the hot oil. Cook until the cooked through and golden brown all over.

Using tongs, remove the chicken from the oil and lay it on paper towels to drain.

Meanwhile, toast all the waffles to a golden brown under a broiler or in a toaster oven. Then place the cheese squares on half of the waffle squares and return to the oven until the cheese is melted.

Build each slider by placing a couple of fried chicken strips on one of the “cheese-free” waffles, place a strip of bacon on top of the chicken, and lay a cheese waffle on top, cheese side down. Place a skewer in the slider to hold it together. Repeat with remaining ingredients.

Place 3 sliders on each plate. Sauce with the spicy maple syrup. Pass remaining syrup.

Makes 9 waffle sliders