Mango Bread and PDQ Chicken

Mango Bread

This came up in the newspaper this week. A tropical version of zucchini or pumpkin bread.   I made it for Sally's homecoming from her trip to Croatia with side trips to Bosnia and Czechoslovakia. Makes two loaves or lot of cupcakes. I made one regular loaf and two of those 3.5” x 6” mini-loaf pans.

2 cups AP flour

2 tsp Cinnamon

2 tsp Baking Soda

1 cup granulated Sugar

2 Eggs

3/4 cup Vegetable Oil

1 tsp Lemon Juice, fresh is best of course

1/3 cup Raisins

2-1/2 cups chopped Mango with a good amount of juice, not just cubes of flesh

Preheat oven to 350F.

Combine dry ingredients. Beat the eggs and oil together then add to the dry mixture. Add the mango, lemon juice, and raisins. Mix well. Pour into two greased loaf pans. Bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean.

This makes a really tasty, sweet breakfast or snack bread. Put a dollop of whipped cream on a slice and you've got a fabulous dessert! For you mango lovers out there, this is a real “keeper” recipe!!

Eggplant Wedges

I came up with this as a second veg for Sally's homecoming dinner – Panko Fish With Two Veg. The other veg was her favorite fried Brussel Sprouts with Green Mango spice.

1 Eggplant

Baingan Bhartaa Marsala (Indian spice blend for roasted eggplant)
EVOO

Slice the eggplant into 1” thick rounds, thenvcut each round into quarters. Lay the wedges out on a baking rack and drizzle them with EVOO. Then dust with the marsala. Broil for about 5 minutes, turn over, dust with more spice, and broil for an additional 4-5 minutes. Serve warm. Can be toppped with julienne cut mint leaves if desired.

PDQ – People Dedicated to Quality

PDQ is a mostly Southern regional restaurant chain specializing in chicken. Although “fast food”, this is not your average greasy fast food joint.  Real quality. The location here in Fort Myers is just about a mile from Sally's.  I've eaten there a few times and always had a good and tasty experience.

So when I saw a posting on the Florida Food Bloggers Facebook page, where a marketing agency was helping PDQ promote a new special edition sandwich and charity here in Florida, I inquired if they would like me to help.

I emailed and then spoke to the lady who owns the advertising agency, who passed me on to one of her employees. Another email exchange established that I would go to the local PDQ last Friday at 11 AM for a tour of the facility and a tasting of this new sandwich.

When I showed up at PDQ at 11, the folks here hadn't a clue what I was talking about!  Not her fault.  Regional HQ and the marketing agency messed up somewhere along the line.

 The Store Manager knew that the PDQ stores up in Tampa and central Florida were involved in some sort of new sandwich promotion, but for whatever reasons, the store here in Fort Myers was being left out of the loop. The Manager was very apologetic, and took my printout of the email exchanges, promising to look into things from her side. Then she very graciously offered to buy me lunch. Here's what I got: the 8 piece chicken nugget basket and a basket of Zucchini Fries.

I gotta tell you, I've eaten a pretty good selection of chicken nuggets and other pieces from a variety of local and national chicken places – Kentucky Fried, Popeye's, Buffalo Wild Wings, Zaxby's and more. The nuggets, and other chicken offerings I've had from PDQ, are better tasting and more attractive than any others I've tried. The nuggets are larger, the batter is lighter and tastier, the meat isn't over-cooked, and the made-in-house-daily dipping sauces are fabulous.

PDQ also does chicken tenders, a nice range of salads, and sandwiches on brioche buns. Sides include not only regular French fries and the Zucchini fries that I sampled, but a very tasty Blueberry Coleslaw. There is an extensive beverage selection and desserts as well.

The zucchini fries were a real revelation. Strips of zucchini dipped in something close to a tempura batter. They're then deep-fried at just the right temperature and time to be beautifully brown and crispy, and not the slightest bit soggy.

If there's a PDQ near you, please do give them a visit. I think you'll be as impressed as I am.