Battlefood #2: Chicken Patty-whack

Sitting at home tonight, Napoleon started becoming bored. Napoleon's constant nagging was getting annoying, and I was on the verge of physical aggression. Luckily for you guys, cooler heads prevailed, and we decided to take out our frustrations in the form of a Battlefood! In this version, we decided to mimic Chopped, and selected the following ingredients for our "secret" basket: chicken patties, corn, cheddar cheese, harissa (!), and falafel.

The Ingredients

Yes, they are store bought and pre-prepared items, but let's face it, on our student budgets, we're not going to be able to use rare ingredients like panda eggs. Mmmmm, panda eggs.

General Tso's Dish

I felt using the chicken patty limited me somewhat to sandwich preparations. As disappointed as I was about this, I didn't want to re-invent the wheel, so I tried to do something special with the other ingredients.

The first thing I did was get to work on the corn and harissa. These seemed to go well together, as harissa has an inherent sweetness from its roasted tomato base that I could pair with the corn. I put some corn and harissa in a pan and warmed them together. I was just looking for a little toasted flavor. Once they were warmed through, I buzzed them together in a blender with some milk to create a thick corn sauce. At this point I tasted it, and it still didn't have that grilled flavor I was going for, so I threw the sauce back on the pan for about a minute and then zapped it with a little lime juice to freshen it up. It looked a little like vomit, but it probably wound up being the star of the competition because of its hot, sweet, spicy, and grilled flavors. Napoleon didn't stand a chance.

I then pan fried the patty with some taco seasoning and cheddar cheese to give it some extra flavor. I also warmed up the falafel balls in oil and then smushed them into crunchies. After toasting some bread, I put the sauce on the chicken, and then topped everything with the crunchies. Booyakasha!

Chicken And Falafel Sandwich

With Roasted Corn and Harissa Puree

Napoleon's Dish

General Tso thinks he's so cool with his vomit sandwich. Well, I decided to up the ante with a little creativity. Instead of using the patty as given, I WHACKED it in half. But instead of cutting it down the center, I actually cut it parallel to the table; so now, instead having one patty, I had two.

I took the corn and falafel and stir fried them together. This was going to be the filling in between the two patties. I also mixed the harissa with some feta cheese I found lying around (in the fridge, not on the ground). After cooking the patties through in a frying pan, I topped one patty with corn/falafel and feta/harissa combinations, and topped the whole thing with the other patty.

I still didn't know what to do with the cheddar cheese. I waited for inspiration, and it struck me like a bolt from Mt. Olympus. I decided to make a circular arrangement of cheese on the frying pan and deep fry it in a pool of oil. How could this not be tasty? This would my coup de grace, my piece de resistance, my [insert overused French phrase here]. After a couple of failed attempts, my confidence was starting to wane. How would I ever beat General Tso's terrible upchuck club? I decided to try one more time, and eureka, I got it. I topped my whimsical delight with the deep-fried cheese cracker, and off to victory I rode!

Stuffed Chicken Patty With Cheese Cracker