This is a lighter, contemporary take on a Cajun classic. Some of it is pretty traditional in both approach and ingredients while it also offers a few surprises. Nonetheless, it's a quick easy meal to make and fails to please only those who don't like a spice with their chicken.
It's easy to whip together and the overall cooking time is under thirty minutes. But the ingredients for the vegetable griddle cakes, need to be pre-cooked and cooled. You can either do this before the main thrust of the preparation, or, as I am doing here, you can use appropriate leftovers.
Although I concocted the recipe for the griddle cakes some years ago, as part of my 2021 resolution to achieve household zero food waste, I've been using it more and now cook it in slightly different ways. As the name suggests, you can cook it in a dry hot frying pan on the hob in the manner of griddle cakes or Scottish potato scones, but I'm increasingly preferring baking them, as I have done here.
Similarly, the so called "trinity" of ingredients that form the backbone of many Cajun dishes—onions, celery and red bell peppers—are here served as a side dish in their own right rather than as a basis for a stew or sauce. And, spring onions, or "green onions" as they are called in the American South, instead of being used as a garnish, are part of the jus-like gravy.
Cajun cooking often deploys a variety of fats in the same dish, most notably butter (more rare and expensive in the Bayou back in the day and therefore traditionally used for the dishes or parts of dishes that benefit from it most given the French culinary roots that is part of Cajun cooking) and vegetable oils of various kinds. This "one skillet" dish does too, in this case, two different types of vegetable oil, but no butter.
Finally, a word on heat. As you will discover, this mix of Cajun spices is fairly hot and peppery. For all the fans of capsaicin, of course you can add hot red chillies to crank up the heat. But, I suggest you don't. I've tried it and while it's tasty, I find that it overwhelms the unique subtleties of the Cajun spice mix that makes the dish so special. Perhaps add a hot chilli relish or hot sauce on the side and dip into it as needed.
This recipe is for 2 to 3 diners. Scale up or scale down as needed.
Shopping list
for the spicy chicken
1 large chicken breast per diner
Approx. 4 heaped tspns "Cajun spice mix" (or 1 tspn each of paprika, ground cumin, ground dried chilli and dried basil and a pinch of cayenne pepper, mixed with pestle and mortar). I'm currently favouring this version from Waitrose, developed specifically as rub, though it works well in dishes like gumbo too. But there are plenty of other good versions out there on the market.
Black pepper and salt to taste
Approx. 1.5 tabspns of olive oil
A little peanut oil, for the cooking
for the "trinity" medley
3 or 4 sticks of celery, finely sliced
2 large white or brown onions, chopped
1 large red bell pepper, cut into small cubes
A generous clutch of fresh coriander, finely chopped (use flat leaf parsley if you don't like coriander)
4 or 5 king prawns per diner, cooked and peeled (optional)
for the gravy
5 or 6 spring onions, chopped
1 clove of garlic, very finely grated (or garlic paste)
Approx 1 tabspn plain flour, sifted
Approx 1.5 tabspns of peanut oil
1 chicken stock cube or jelly or 1 cup of fresh stock
A dash of malt or wine vinegar
1 tspn honey (not if using the bourbon)
salt and black pepper to taste
A double shot of bourbon (optional)
for the vegetable griddle cakes
Okay, so there are few fixed ingredients for this recipe. As mentioned, I developed it as a tasty leftovers option. So, the ingredients listed here only reflect what I used this time; what was knocking about in the fridge. Thus, you can use any appropriate ingredients, freshly cooked or left over, but your combination should always include or bear in mind:
An egg
A critical mass of potatoes — if you only use root vegetables such as sweet potatoes or celeriac with a higher level of water content, the mixture will become too watery and disintegrate when you cook it
plain flour — enough to make the mixture bind
baking powder — this is essential to the light, fluffiness you want to achieve
A sweet element — many comparable items in the cooking canon of the South have some sweetness added to them. For example, the biscuits in "gravy and biscuits" or the waffles in "chicken and waffles". If you are only using more bitter or savoury root veggies (potatoes, turnips, celeriac etc.) you can add two teaspoons of brown sugar to your batter. I prefer to find the right sweetness from the vegetables themselves and therefore always ensure that roughly 50% of what goes in are sweet veggies such as pumpkin, butternut squash, carrots or sweet potato.
So, on this occasion my ingredients were
5 small(ish) young potatoes, boiled and mashed
¼ of a butternut squash, cooked
½ a sweet potato, cooked
Approx. ½ a tin of cooked cannellini beans
Approx. 4 tabspns plain flour
1 heaped tspn baking powder
1 egg
A smidgen or olive oil
3 tabspns Japanese panko or toasted breadcrumbs (optional)
Cooking method
This is one of those dishes where the cooking happens pretty much simultaneously and consecutively but you prepare a lot of the ingredients in advance of that.
preparation stage
Take all of your cooked, cooled vegetables for the griddle cakes and place them in a large bowl, peeling any of them if necessary (e.g. if using leftover baked sweet potato). Mash thoroughly using a hand masher. But, don't add any butter or cream as you might with with mashed potatoes. If your combination is rather dry and becomes crumbly (e.g. you're using a lot of potato) add a little olive oil instead
Once the mixture is thoroughly mashed and mixed together, cover and allow to rest while you prepare other ingredients
Slice the chicken breasts vertically and press them flat on a chopping board, similar to how you would if making chicken schnitzel or scaloppine, only these don't need to be battered into such thinness
Using clean fingers, rub a generous amount of the Cajun spice mix into both sides of the fillets, massaging it deeply into the tissue. You may need to repeat this on each side to reach the preferred amount of spice clinging to the chicken. Season with salt and/or pepper, then drizzle a tiny amount of olive oil (don't use the peanut oil) onto each side. Rub in, covering the full surface and sealing the spice beneath it
Cover and allow to rest. Note, however, that this is not a marinade and you do not need to do so hours before cooking because it is actually the cooked spice coating the surface that will create the unique Cajun flavours
Chop the celery, onions and red bell pepper. Chop the coriander very finely
Return to your mashed vegetables to complete your batter. First, mix in the egg. Then thoroughly fold in the flour, one spoon at a time. You want to end up with a fairly loose batter, not quite as runny as the consistency of drop scone batter, but more fluid than that of baked scones. If the batter begins to become stiff, stop adding flour. Add the baking powder ands season with black pepper and/or a little salt; stir in. Cover and allow the mixture to rest while you preheat the oven to 175°C/350°F/gas mark 4
cooking stage
Heat a little olive oil on a high heat in a medium or fairly large frying pan. Once the oil has heated but is not smoking hot, add the onions, celery and red pepper all at once. Stir vigorously so that they are sealed by the oil, then reduce to a medium heat to sauté them, stirring regularly
After about 5 mins, add the chopped coriander, salt and/or black pepper (or a dash of dark soy sauce instead) to flavour and stir in. Continue to stir regularly. For the dish to be ready, you don't want the ingredients to brown, but to soften to a tasty, al dente crunchiness
Remove the pan from the heat. Transfer the trinity medley into a hot dish, cover and keep warm. Before returning the pan to the heat, ladle out the griddle cake batter onto a non-stick baking tray. Generously sprinkle the panko or breadcrumbs (if using them) over the top of the individual cakes. Drizzle a drop or two of oil on top of each cake and bake in the middle of the oven for 15 to 20 mins (10 if using a halogen oven). The more able you time their being ready when you start serving up, the better. Although they are delicious to eat later, if you eat them very soon after coming out of the oven, they will be less waffle-like; golden brown on the outside but retain a light fluffy soufflé-like quality on the inside
Using the same pan used for the trinity medley and all of its juices, add a generous covering of peanut oil and heat on a high heat. Place your chicken fillets into the pan and cook for at least 5 mins before turning. Don't worry about it burning; you want to blacken the spices. Then turn and cook the other side in a similar manner. Even though you are cooking fairly thin fillets, they will not dry out thanks to the spice layer. Once ready, place them on a hot plate and keep warm
Add the king prawns to the same pan. Cook for no longer than a minute or so, turning regularly to coat with the residual spices. Add to the trinity vegetable medley
gravy train
Still using the same pan, top up with a little more peanut oil, throw in the spring onions and scald them briefly, before adding half of the bourbon (if using it) and stir thoroughly. Add the sifted plain flour and stir in, creating a kind of roux
As soon as this starts to thicken and dry, pour in half of the chicken stock making sure it is piping hot before adding. If you are using honey instead of the bourbon, add it at this stage. Add the salt and/or pepper to taste. Stir continuously to prevent lumps and allow it to reduce. Add the rest of the bourbon (if using) and the rest of the stock, bit by bit, until you achieve the preferred consistency. NB, it should not be too thick so add more stock or a little hot water if necessary
Plate the chicken, griddle cakes and trinity medley, which you garnish with the king prawns (if using them). Add the gravy sparingly or allow diners to add it at table since it is fairly intense and too much can overwhelm other flavours in the dish.
Alternative methods
As the name suggests, the recipe for the griddle cakes started out as something you cook in a pan. You can cook them this way if you prefer but note that they won't end up as crispy on the outside. Cook them in a dry, non-stick pan much as you would drop scones or Scotch pancakes. You can also use a griddle pan, in which case I really recommend a non-stick version because if you move them too early, the grooves between the ridges will clog with batter. If using the same griddle pan to cook the chicken, cook the chicken first and keep warm in the oven because you want the griddle cakes to remain as light and fluffy as possible when serving.
There are two reasons I strongly recommend cooking the chicken in a flat frying pan. One is because it blackens the spices more evenly and the other is that all those juices are important to capture for the rest of this "one skillet" meal. But, if you really are a fan of chargrilled seared stripes, you can cook it in a griddle pan, one of those fancy hob-top grills that cook from underneath or even the barbecue. When cooking with any of these, rub in additional Cajun spice when preparing the chicken since these methods tend to "detach" more of the spice when removing from the grill.
Pairings
This is definitely one that I'm putting on Karel's list of challenges because, honestly, I've not found a workaday wine that I like with it so far, let alone a good one. It does work well with a range of beers and good old-fashioned lemonade.
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