You are probably thinking, "Ewwwwe!" This is actually something my mom and I had discovered at Planet Hollywood in Atlantic City. (On a side note, do those even exist anymore?!) It was one of her favorites, but we rarely got the chance to go, so we adapted it so we could make it at home. I've been missing her a lot lately, and had this on the brain and had to make it. Now, while some people think I am a bionic cooking machine, I am in fact human, and managed to screw up my breading process. I forgot that when I make this, the majority of the wet breading process is egg, and not milk! So, if you follow the directions below, your chicken will come out with much more breading and will look more appealing than the photos of my chicken are! I usually serve this along side of corn and something else healthy since I fry the chicken, in hopes of balancing out the calories, so today I opted for corn and watermelon!
Captain Crunch Chicken
Yields 3 servings (2-3 pieces of chicken per person)
To Make the Breading
1. Put 3 cups of Captain Crunch between two pieces of parchment paper or onto a cookie sheet.
2. Crush them using a rolling pin or something heavy until they are a mix of smaller and very tiny pieces. If you don't want to go this route, you can put them in a blender, food processor, or magic bullet! By doing it by hand you will get varying sizes of breading that will give your chicken more texture, where as running it through a processor will give it a very even texture!
3. In a separate bowl, mix 3 eggs with 3 tablespoons of milk.
To Prepare the Chicken
1. You will need to heat an oil of your choosing in a pan. Make sure there is enough oil in the pan to cover at least half the height of chicken when it is lying in the pan! Most of you will cringe when I say this, but I chose to use Crisco vegetable shortening. One of the only reasons I go this route is because the amount needed is cheaper than any other oil, and it also browns the chicken beautifully and makes it very crunchy! In all honesty, you are really not consuming that much of the oil, but if you want a healthier option, go the route of canola oil!
2. Using 1 pound of chicken, you are going to dunk it into your egg mixture, and then coat it by dredging it through your breading. Finish breading all of the pieces.
3. VERY CAREFULLY (remember, very hot oil in the pan) place your chicken into the oil using a utensil with a long handle.
4. Once the bottoms start to turn golden brown, flip them over and cook the other side until golden brown.
5. Once your chicken is done, place it onto paper towels on a plate to allow the excess oil to run off.
To Prepare the Corn
1. Shuck your corn (take off the leaves and hair).
2. Put a 1/4 cup of sugar into the water you are going to boil the corn in, and bring the water to a boil.
3. Once the water comes to a boil, put your corn in.
4. When your corn turns from light yellow to a dark shade of yellow, it is done!
I like to serve my Captain Crunch Chicken along side some of Emeril's Smooth Honey Mustard...it tastes just sweet and spicy enough to compliment the flavor of the chicken!
