September 24th marked the 8th Annual Disc-It Round Up to benefit UNM Children’s Hospital and we were there with our aprons on, Disc-Its hot, ready to cook!
This annual event is the passion project of organizer Nevin Montano. He and his devoted team of family and friends work very hard to make this event successful, and their only goal is to help UNMH meet the critical healthcare needs of New Mexico’s children.
We’re honored to participate and look forward to the Disc-It Round-Up all year long. The first year we decided to compete was 2011. We were green to the cooking competition scene and had no idea what to expect.
Disc-It Round Up Challenge
We developed a recipe we thought was a winner, the Pecan Crusted Chicken Nugget using our Red Chile BBQ Rub and original Red Chile BBQ Sauce. We loved it! And the crowd loved it! In fact, they loved it so much that we ran out of chicken! Twice! People flocked to our booth, but we had nothing to give them. We had grossly underestimated the turnout and this hurt our chances of winning. People don’t vote for food they can’t eat, even though I very eloquently tried to describe our dish in mouthwatering detail. They weren’t convinced.
We had painfully learned our lesson, so in subsequent years we made absolutely certain that we arrived with plenty of food to feed the masses. This proved key. That detail along with a delicious dish served us well and we won one of the two grand champion prizes in 2012. And 2014. And 2015.
While we doing our R&D for this year’s recipe I couldn’t help but harken back to that first year. It is one of my favorite Disc-It dishes and we still cook it for ourselves. Why not dust that recipe off and give it another whirl? We had learned a few things since that first year and I always knew that recipe was a winner.
Well, I was right. Our Pecan Crusted Chicken Nuggets took People’s Choice Grand Champion and Best Written Recipe awards! We had finally done right by the Chicken Nugget.
We’re happy to share it with you…again.
Pecan Crusted Chicken Nuggets
- 2lbs of Boneless Chicken Breasts cut into 1-ounce pieces
- ½ cup of Panko Bread Crumbs
- ½ cup of Plain Bread Crumbs
- ½ cup of Pecans Chopped
- 4 Eggs Beaten or 1 cup of Egg Substitute
- 3 teaspoons AlbuKirky Seasonings BBQ Rub
- AlbuKirky Seasonings Red Chile BBQ Sauce
- Honey
Directions
- Mix the bread crumbs, pecans, and BBQ Rub in a large bowl.
- In another large bowl add the eggs and beat thoroughly.
- Dredge chicken pieces in egg then roll in the breadcrumb and nut mixture, and coat completely.
- Heat the cooking oil in Disc-It or a deep frying pan to 350-375F. Keep the oil temp in this range or the nuts will burn.
- Add 5-10 pieces of chicken to the hot oil and fry for 2-3 minutes or to an internal temperature of 160F.
- Remove to paper towels to drain.
- Allow the nuggets to cool for a few minutes and serve with AlbuKirky Seasonings BBQ Sauce and a drizzle of honey.
We want to thank Nevin Montano and his family and friends for creating and organizing such a wonderful event. They work tirelessly to ensure that the teams have everything they need including a fabulous venue to cook in; that the attendees have an amazing experience filled with great food, music, and family-friendly activities; and most importantly, that UNM Children’s Hospital reaps the benefits.
We also want to thank Team AlbuKirky for doing it with us every year and loving it as much as we do! We absolutely could not do it without the help and hard work of Patricia Valadez, Sean Sorlie, Shaylyn Silva, Michael Silva, and Rachel Moskowitz. Your devotion and generosity are immeasurable! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!
