Do you ever eat breakfast for dinner? Jeff can eat pancakes any time of day, and I find a hearty omelet or a cool, crunchy bowl of cereal to be the most satisfying meal some nights. When I heard about Breakfast for Dinner, a cookbook featuring breakfast-y main dishes, sides, starters, cocktails, and desserts all meant to be served for dinner, I was definitely intrigued.
Breakfast for Dinner is written by husband and wife team Taylor Hackbarth and Lindsay Landis, of Love & Olive Oil. To come up with a variety of recipes for the cookbook, the couple said they tried to keep an open mind about what constituted something "breakfast-y," and they also tried to incorporate dishes from different cultures and types of cuisine. This is evident throughout the book, where you'll find recipes for everything from egg and chorizo burritos to Greek baked eggs to frozen sunrise margaritas to Vietnamese iced-coffee pops.
After an initial flip through, I found so many recipes I wanted to try, but after subsequent flip throughs, I realized there was one recipe that kept grabbing my attention more than the rest: chicken and biscuit waffles. I don't know if it was the mouthwatering picture or the introduction that called them biscoffles or wiscuits that pulled me in more, but I knew that this would be the first recipe I'd tackle. And it wasn't long before I did.
The original recipe serves four, but I pared it down to serve two. I found it remarkably easy to whip up the biscuit waffles and fry the chicken (as well as toss together the simple arugula salad) on a weeknight for a quick, satisfying, and incredibly delicious meal.
Chicken and Biscuit Waffles
(adapted from Breakfast for Dinner)
Serves 2
Ingredients
Arugula Salad
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
3/4 teaspoon lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon honey
Kosher salt and pepper
2 cups (2 ounces) baby arugula
Chicken
1 large chicken breast
Kosher salt and pepper
Vegetable oil
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
Biscuit Waffles
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut in pieces
1/2 cup buttermilk
Butter, for serving
Preparation
Arugula Salad
Whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, and honey in small bowl. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Place arugula in large bowl. Just before serving, drizzle dressing over arugula and toss to evenly distribute.
Chicken
Place chicken breast between two pieces of plastic wrap and pound to 1/2-inch thickness. Cut breast in half crosswise. Season with salt and pepper.
Heat a thin layer of vegetable oil (about 1/4 inch) in a heavy skillet to 350 degrees over medium heat.
Place buttermilk in shallow bowl and place all-purpose flour in second shallow bowl. Dredge chicken in buttermilk then in flour, shaking off excess. (To have everything hot and ready at once, make biscuit waffle batter before frying chicken. Time it so you are cooking the biscuit waffles while the chicken is frying.)
Fry chicken for 4 to 5 minutes per side, or until golden brown and cooked through. Transfer to paper-towel-lined plate.
Biscuit Waffles
Preheat Belgian waffle iron according to manufacturer's directions (I had to put mine on the highest setting to get the waffles to crisp. Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and pepper in medium bowl. With pastry blender, cut butter into dry ingredients. Add buttermilk and stir in with fork until no dry flour remains.
Scoop half of batter into waffle iron and cook until outside is golden brown and crispy. Repeat with remaining batter.
Divide waffles and dressed arugula salad between plates. Butter waffles, if desired, and top each waffle with one piece of chicken. Serve.
When asked which of their recipes they found to be most versatile and crowd-pleasing, Lindsay and Taylor answered, "The unusual combination of chicken and waffles never disappoints." It certainly didn't disappoint us!
The fried chicken tastes amazing. I was shocked at how it gets that nice, near-authentic fried chicken flavor from such a simple dredging and frying process. The biscuit waffles take the best aspects of biscuits and waffles and put them together: You get a nice, dense biscuit-like texture and buttermilk tang along with a crisp, toasty waffle outside. And because of the pepper, they're more savory than your typical biscuit or waffle, making them the perfect accompaniment to the fried chicken. The arugula salad adds a lightness and sweetness to the dish. Served with orange juice, this makes one amazing breakfast -- I mean, dinner.
I received a review copy of Breakfast for Dinner, but all opinions are my own.
Quick note: I did find one small mistake in the book. When we were eating the biscuit waffles, Jeff kept saying that they tasted really salty to him. I thought they were fine and maybe there was just a little too much salted butter on his; I like salty things. But he persisted, so I went back and checked my math, and I did everything right. But the recipe has a little side note specifying how to substitute all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt for self-rising flour. It says you need 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder and 1 1/4 teaspoons of salt for 1 1/2 cups of flour. Later in the book, there is another recipe with the same substitution note, but this one says you need 2 teaspoons of baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon of salt for 2 cups of flour. After reading this, I realized the note on the chicken and waffles calls for way too much salt in proportion to the other note. I've made adjustments in my version above so you won't end up with salty biscuit waffles.
What is your favorite breakfast dish to eat for dinner?