National Kitchen and Bath Show - Oh The Places I've Been

The National Kitchen and Bath

Show and the International Builder's

Show were held this year in February

in Las Vegas.

This is a show I always love to

attend to see all of the new trends

and products.

The kitchen and bath products are always the most exciting.

The show is heavily attended and this year

we actually had a booth for the first time

showing Whitewater and Tyvarian's 

kitchen and bath products.

This is our new freestanding tub and skirt.

All of the really big names in

the business are there and it is really

exciting.

As an interior designer spanning 35 years

I can tell you that the designs and colors

just cycle around and around. 

You couldn't find dark wood,

we are now moving into the

reclaimed wood phase (what

was last time known as pickled wood.) 

I just could never go for Harvest Gold

and Avocado Green appliances again

(from the lovely 70's)

but here they are and at a whopping $7,000

for an oven!

This oven advertises that it has winds 

up to 60 miles an hour inside.

Kohler is the biggest of the biggies

and it is like going to a rock concert

in their gigantic booth.

After the show hubby surprised

me with tickets to Shania Twain.

She is quite the entertainer.  I was so 

thrilled to attend.

And of course we had to visit

the Wicked Spoon

where everything comes in small

pans, bowls and fun dishes.

Not only is the presentation fun

but the food is fabulous.

And we couldn't go to Las Vegas without

a visit to

Hash House A Go Go

and have their famous 

Sage Fried Chicken and Waffles.

(Click here for my copycat recipe.)

But this time I wanted to try something 

new so I tried Man vs Food's favorite

Sage Fried Chicken Benedict.

I love the sweet and savory of the

waffles, but this savory, slightly

spicy chipotle cream sauce

smothering the Sage Fried Chicken

which sits on top of giant fluffy

biscuits which is atop a generous

serving of mashed potatoes has

to be my new favorite.

So the show was food for

the eye and Las Vegas had

great food for the belly.

Now we hope that the economy

can change around and provide

food for the table!!

I will be posting this with

Oh The Places I've Been

Hash House A Go Go's Sage Fried Chicken and Bacon Waffles

After the wedding, the missionary and Pioneer Trek

we ran away for 3 weeks.

On our way to running away, we stopped in

Las Vegas at the famous

Hash House A Go Go

for their

Sage Fried Chicken and Waffles.

(This is a picture of my dish at the restaurant.)

A massive breakfast, lunch or dinner dish that

consists of 4 waffles with bacon inside

topped with two fried chicken breasts

and garnished with their special

"BBQ sauce" and deep fried scallions

served up with warm maple syrup.

This dish is stacked high and pierced

with a skewer and a sprig of rosemary

and finally with a huge steak knife

(to keep it from toppling over!)

Definitely a dish to wow!

And a dish to share.

As we were driving home from our 3 week

vacation and talking about getting together

with the family for dinner after 3 weeks absence

hubby suggested we try making the 

Sage Fried Chicken and Waffles.

I quickly got on my phone and did

a search and I came up with two

recipes, both supposedly from

Hash House A Go Go

but one gave more specifics

for the waffles and one gave more

specifics for the chicken, so I combined

them to get a full recipe.  

BUT,

in addition, I found a Las Vegas Food TV

video showing Chef Andy making his

famous dish and that gave me even more

instructions on how to put together this

fabulous meal.

So we tried it and it tasted just like theirs.

This photo is my homemade

Hash House A Go Go's Sage Fried Chicken and Waffles

(A picture of my version of Sage Fried Chicken and Bacon Waffles.)

Of course this was the photo for blogging, no one

wanted this large of a serving 

(4 waffles and 2 chicken breasts like theirs). 

 We made our servings

with one or two waffles and one chicken breast

(some even just had a half chicken breast).

Hash House A Go Go's Sage Fried Chicken and Waffles

(Adaptaion from Food Network's Recipe

-featured on Rachael's Vacation-

and

Cooking Channel's Recipe

- featured on Unique Eats - Vegas -

plus

Las Vegas Food TV's Cooking Video

(This video helped me realize that I needed both recipes to make it like his.)

So I have combined all three for you to get a really

good and complete recipe.

Hash House A Go Go's 

Sage Fried Chicken and Waffles Recipe

Sage Fried Chicken

Oil for deep frying

1 1/4 C. flour

1 C. cornstarch

1/2 C. lightly crushed cornflakes

1 T. Season All or Old Bay

1 T. fresh sage, finely chopped

6 eggs (beaten for an egg wash)

8 boneless skinless chicken breasts

Place the chicken breasts in a ziploc bag and lightly 

pound to flatten the thick side so that the piece is

evenly thick.  Repeat with all pieces.

Mix the flour, cornstarch, cornflakes, Season All and fresh

sage.  Place in a shallow pan.  Place the egg wash in another 

shallow pan.

Heat the oil to 360 in a deep fryer.

Dip the chicken first in the egg wash and then

in the flour mix.  Deep fry for 6-7 minutes or until

cooked through.  Drain on paper towels.

Waffles

5 C. flour

1/4 C. sugar

1 1/2 T. baking powder

1 T. salt

3 eggs

2 C. buttermilk

2 C. milk

1 T. vanilla extract

1/2 C. melted butter

16 pieces of hardwood smoked bacon, cooked

Preheat a square waffle iron - mine

makes 4 square waffles at once.

Mix the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and set aside.

Mix the wet ingredients in another bowl, making sure to

break up the eggs and mix them in.

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients stirring

until mixed with a few lumps left.  (I had to add a little

water or milk to the mix as it seemed too thick.)

Spray the waffle iron with Pam.  Spoon the waffle

batter into the waffle iron, making sure to fill in the

corners of the waffle iron.

Lay a cooked piece of bacon diagonally across each

waffle square.  Mine has 4 squares so I laid 4 pieces

of bacon on the batter for each batch.  Close the

waffle iron and cook until golden and crispy.  Cut

the squares apart when finished cooking.

Fried Leeks or Green Onions

(I don't think these are optional.  They

are easy to do in the oil before you fry the 

chicken and they really add to the flavor.)

1 bunch green onions or several

leeks, cut thinly into strips

hot oil for deep frying

Heat oil to 360 (do this before

you cook the chicken) and throw

the thin long slices of leeks or onions

into the hot oil.  Cook until crispy and drain.

BBQ Sauce

1/2 C. low sodium soy sauce

1/2 C. brown sugar

3/4 T. chopped garlic

3/4 T. sriracha sauce

1 tsp. cornstarch to thicken

Mix in a small saucepan and bring to

a boil and then turn down to a simmer.  

Mix the cornstarch in a tablespoon of

cold water to make a slurry.  Stir into

the BBQ sauce and heat until it thickens

up a little.  

Warm Real Maple Syrup

Rosemary Sprig (Optional)

Finely chopped red or red and yellow pepper (Optional)

For a healthy sized serving:

Layer 2 bacon waffles on a plate

and top with one fried chicken breast.

Secure the stack with a skewer

and place the fried green onions

on top of the skewer (he shows this

in the video).  Dribble a little of

the BBQ sauce on the stack and

on the plate.  Skewer the stack with

a sprig of rosemary and a steak knife

if desired.  Garnish with finely chopped

red pepper if desired.  Serve with

warm real maple syrup.

This would make 8 servings, with

1 chicken breast and two waffles each.

(A picture of my homemade chicken and waffles.)

Wow, look at that thick sliced hardwood smoked bacon

cooked right inside the waffle and the delicious

dribble of the BBQ sauce.  The Food Network recipe

does not even mention the BBQ sauce.  You can

see it in the picture of the restaurant's dish. This

sauce was a hit

and people wanted extra so serve it on

the side.

We served our warmed real maple syrup

in little sauce cups so everyone could

add it as they desired.

The chicken was so moist and flavorful.  I

don't think I have made fried chicken

for over 25 years but I will be making

this again.

(A picture of my homemade Sage Fried Chicken and Bacon Waffles.)

Hash House a Go Go - Twisted Farm Food!

I say, Delicious Farm Food and our friends

who first introduced us to this restaurant

with the huge portions and funky name

raced right over to taste test the famed

dish and gave it two thumbs up!

If you would like to see more food

from my first visit here at

Hash House A Go Go

for Miss America 2012

click here.  You won't believe

the portion sizes! (This was the

first time I had tried Chicken and Waffles

and I fell in love with the salty/sweet

combination.)

I hope you enjoyed your visit

at 

Purple Chocolat Home 

today and I hope your

mouth watered at this delicious dish.

Miss America 2012

I have hardly been home during the month of

January so I haven't gotten much blogging done.

I spent a whole week in Las Vegas for the

Miss America Competition.  Here I am with

Miss America 2011, Teresa Scanlan.

Theresa was the youngest ever Miss America

crowned at the age of 17.  She was also the

only contestant from Nebraska to ever win

the title of Miss America.

You couldn't meet a sweeter, nicer, more mature

young woman.  Every person I saw her engage 

with felt her warmth and sincerity.  Truly it was 

a delight to get to meet her.

I was there with our Miss Orem who

will be competing in June for Miss Utah, 

Hannah Harkness.  Hannah was one of my

Young Women and she and her family invited

me to attend Miss America with them.

Here she is meeting Teresa.

I would not say that I am someone interested

in pageants, but I have now twice had the

opportunity to attend Miss America with

young women in my neighborhood, this year

with Hannah and in 1996 with Miss Utah, 

Amanda Moody.  In both cases it was a lot

of fun to see the whole process following 

the competition all week long.

A lot of time was spent trying on formal gowns

at the trunk shows where girls can get competition

gowns at a discount.  Hannah chose a Sherri Hill

gown and got to meet Sherri, the designer.

Not a gambler, I had a lot of fun shopping

for shoes and clothes

and eating, eating and eating.

I had never heard of Hash House A Go Go!

Don't you just love that name.  Their motto is

"Twisted Farmhouse Food".  I don't know about

twisted, but exceptional and huge definitely describe

their portions.

Biscuits and gravy with mashed potatoes,

Pork tenderloin benedict with a BBQ cream sauce (absolutely killer),

Coconut and mango pancake (18 inches across),

Chicken and asparagus skillet with a biscuit that

must be 4 inches tall,

and my dish, Sage Fried Chicken and Waffles. 

I had heard and read of this Southern classic dish so

I just had to try it.  Wow!  This is a must try.  If

you are in town Hash House a Go Go was a foodie

paradise.

Another recommendation would be Mon Ami Gabi

at the front of the Paris Hotel.  Outside seating will get

you front row seating to the Bellagio fountains across

the street but you have to wait for those seats and

they are crowded from the moment they open until

they close.  We ate inside.

Your meal starts with this wonderful warm bread

that comes in their signature paper bag. 

We sampled all kinds of things.  I loved these

waffle fries as an appetizer.

The famous French sandwich, Croque Monsieur - yum.

It's a good thing we walked everywhere with all of

this eating going on!

Miss Wisconsin was crowned Miss America 2012.

I had to give a loud cheer having been born and

raised in Wisconsin. 

Miss Utah won the swimsuit and physical fitness the

first night so that was fun too.

It was a treat all the way around and I was so glad to

be invited.  A big thank you to my friends, the Harkness family.

It was a very fun and educational week where

Miss Orem learned a lot about the Miss America

pageant and we had a lot of foodie and shopping fun.