December 11, 2011 - Spicy Gorgonzola Chicken Bites

Since my Facebook photo postings appear to no longer be the best method of sharing my magical kitchen creations, I think it's about time to re-boot this blog.
Tonight is the culmination of a fabulous weekend spent with my best friend Mairin (or Mai, or Mai Mai or M-dawg, or any other number of nicknames we've given her over the years) we spent the weekend celebrating Christmas with some old traditions (The Year Without A Santa Clause, LU Christmas Vespers) and old friends (Heids, Steve, KP, Julie, Vani, etc) and some inspirational Philadelphia Christmas Traditions (Comcast's Light Show, The Christmas Village, and the light show at the Wanamaker Building in Macy's).  So I came home from Vespers to a lonely apartment full of Christmas Cheer.  And a kitchen filled with some dirty dishes.  So I did what any self respecting foodoligist would do in her time of hunger and need...made something that required almost no clean up.

Spicy Gorgonzola Chicken Bites
Ingredients:
- 1 Chicken Breast
- Bread Crumbs
- Red Pepper Flakes
- Gorgonzola

Step 1: Cut the chicken breast into reasonably bite-sized pieces (that's sort of your discretion)
Step 2: In a ziploc combine a liberal amount of bread crumbs (enough to coat your chicken bites) and red pepper flakes.  The amount of red pepper flakes is a direct correlation to how spicy you desire your meal to be, put more for more, less for not as much, it's not an exact science.  Add the gorgonzola...it would be best to use smaller crumbles that have a chance of sticking to the chicken.
Step 3: Put the bites in the bag and shake like it's shake and bake until all bites are coated.  Add more bread crumbs, red pepper flakes, or gorgonzola if needed.
NOTE: Most of the gorgonzola isn't going to stick to the chicken bites, this is totally ok.
Step 4: Place the coated chicken bites in a shallow pan (I use a 9x9 Pyrex), and crumble the remaining gorgonzola on top of the bites (again you can use as much or as little as you like, I used a moderate amount, enough so each bite had some gorgonzola kick to it).
Step 5: Put the bites into the oven at about 300 for about 15-20 minutes or until golden brown (those are always the directions with breaded things and that usually works out best for everyone).

Well, the spicy gorgonzola chicken bites may not have made up for missing my bestie but they were just the ice cream on top of the weekend!
For this foodsperiment: +8 for taste, +5 for easy clean-up, and +5 for leftovers usable for lunch!