mutteringhousewife

So it’s going to be one of those afternoons of children going hither and yon and requiring food that doesn’t need to be eaten with a knife and fork. Sausages aren’t too bad for this kind of evening, but today they’re getting chicken nuggets. Nice ones. Made with identifiable bits of chicken.

Here are my tips for making chicken nuggets:
1. Don’t go buying your chicken on pension day. The IGA was a seething mass of nonnas, taking turns at manhandling the artichokes and pushing in front each other at the deli counter. I had to elbow one in the ribs to get at the butcher’s fridge.
2. Don’t put them on a baking tray lined with foil unless you really want to increase the aluminium in your diet.
3. Use thighs rather than breasts as they’re a bit more tender. The baking dries them out a bit, and breast is a bit too worthy in this context.

And here’s how.
I chop up six thighs into about twelve pieces each. Then they get the schnitzel treatment, and mine goes like this : dipped in cornflour (REAL cornflour), dipped in egg and milk mix, dipped in breadcrumbs. If you’re going to use Krummies, you may as well buy frozen chicken nuggets, either make your own or get nice ones from a bakery or deli. Lay them on a baking tray lined with baking paper and liberally sprayed with oil. This didn’t occur to me the first time, but they’re not biscuits so they don’t need room to spread, you can pack them in. Spray over the top with oil, again with little or no stint. It’s going to be a lot less than frying them. I’m still not sure how long to bake them, I think I did forty five minutes last time, but I’ll pay attention this time.

And here’s a picture

We had a birthday party on the weekend, and as I am a thrifty housewife, I saved the leftover chips in a Tupperware container. I whizzed them in my miniature food processor and added them to the crumbs. Where would I be without Tupperware?