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WIP of my pretzel pizza
 
I took the crappie and tilapia I caught yesterday morning and baked them whole for lunch. I rubbed them down with salt and pepper, then squeezed some lemon and lime juice onto them, then took the lemon and lime slices and put them into the body cavity with some sliced garlic.

I usually do that with whole tilapia and it’s pretty good, but I wasn’t too big on doing it with the crappie since those fish tend to have sweeter tasting flesh.
 
I took two leg quarters with skin on and separated them into thigh and drumstick then put them in the fridge in pickle juice for about an hour, and took them out and let them come to room temperature for another hour.

Then while the oven was heating to 375, I mixed an egg with a splash of milk and soy and some ginger juice from pureed ginger I had left from something else.

Next, took a cup and a half or so of panko and mixed in some cayenne, smoked paprika, powdered onion, and powdered garlic, and put them in a big Ziploc bag.

Then I pulled the skin back and added about a half teaspoon full of ginger puree into the space between the skin and the chicken and covered it back up.

Finally, drag the chicken through the egg mix, then shake them up Shake n Bake style, but finish by pressing the panko mix into the chicken hard until it's consistently covered.

Bake for 40 minutes or until done.

I was going to make a soy-ginger reduction or something but decided not to and it was fine. Panko is great for getting a result a lot like fried without actually frying.
 
Panko is great for getting a result a lot like fried without actually frying.

I love using panko breadcrumbs for oven baked chicken.

My favorite comfort meal is pork, veal, or chicken katsu, I take whatever fresh cutlets I can get at the store, hammer them thin, dredge in flour, then in egg with a splash of milk, and finally in panko breadcrumbs before I fry them in oil. I make Short grain rice in the instant pot, shred up some cabbage with a dollop of mayo, and then make a katsu sandwich for the next day from any leftover meat.
 
Eight ounces of heavy whipping cream, pre-chilled whipped senseless for almost ten minutes until it forms stiff peaks, then whip in a can of dulce de leche. Freeze it. Eat incredibly rich caramel ice cream.

To make the can of dulce de leche, rip the label off a can of sweetened condensed milk. Put it in a pressure cooker. Cover it well over an inch over it in water. Do it for 40-60 minutes depending on your taste. Use *natural release*, that is just unplug the pressure cooker, and wait until the thing goes down and you can release it, then do not open it until it is cool.

Or if you don't like the potentially explodey part of this, just buy a can of dulce de leche. It's a lot better if you do it yourself.

The only other warning is if you do dulce de leche, if you do it too dark, it ends up with some crystals in it.

Oh, also, before you freeze it, top it with cellophane wrap over the top directly in contact with the ice cream.

Next day, you'll have ridiculously rich caramel ice cream. You might consider using slightly more heavy whipping cream, or slightly less dulce de leche.
 
Cream cheese kolaches (klobasnek, but locals pretty much call all Czech pastries kolaches here). First time trying from scratch. They're yummy, but this recipe was more briochey than fluffy, so I'm going to try another recipe another time. Trying to nail that super soft kolache bakery texture. Cream cheese filling has nutmeg and orange zest.
 

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