Friday, February 10, 2012

There She Goes With Her Weird Titles Again

I made most of the components of Nigella's "Spring-Scented Lunch for 8" (for 2) for dinner tonight. Spring-scented? She's so weird. I love her, but she goes a little overboard with the titles.
Tarragon French Roast Chicken (pg 271) was lovely. Mix a load of chopped tarragon, a bit of sherry, and a bit of white pepper in with soft butter. Rub butter under the skin of the chicken. Roast. I followed Nigella's timing instructions, and have to say that the breast came out a bit dry. The skin was beautifully crisp, though. I would follow this recipe, in terms of the tarragon butter, but probably follow my normal roasting method, which is to lay the bird breast-side down, then flip it for the last thirty minutes.

Conclusion: Liked it. The tarragon was a little sweet, and tasted like it was born to roast in my chicken.

Nigella includes a recipe for Foolproof Rice (pg 272). This seems silly to me, because a) it's not much different than the normal rice cooking instructions and b) it's not foolproof. Mix a cup of rice in melted butter, then add a cup of water (I used stock) and bring to a boil. She says to simmer it on the lowest setting for 30-40 minutes. She does not take into account the irritatingly slow response time of an electric stove. I turned my rice to low. Fortunately, I checked it again five minutes later. The liquid was gone and the rice was beginning to stick to the bottom of the pan. I added a butt-load more water, and all was well.

Conclusion: Just okay. No different than any other rice recipe.

German Leeks and Wine (pg 270) sounded like they'd be amazing--thick slabs of leek, cooked in butter, then wine. It wasn't so great. Not a lot of flavor, and the outer rings remained tough.

Conclusion: Somewhere between okay and disliked, but I'm going to go with disliked, since I only picked at it.

Nigella ends her "Spring-Scented Lunch" with a lemon pie. Man, I wish I made a lemon pie. That would hit the spot right now. A glass of wine will have to do.

8 comments:

  1. So, burning question. What does spring smell like. And yes, lemon pie sounds like a must have.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Speaking of weird titles....

    Peggy

    http://adoptsomom.wordpress.com/

    (the comment thingy isn't working still)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hmm...I think it would've been more keen on these dishes without the ridiculous title! Ha!

    ReplyDelete
  4. That sounds really good. My daughter & I totally crack up when we watch Nigella on tv, especially when she raids her fridge in the middle of the night.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Tarragon French Roast Chicken sounds delicious. Great looking meal. Wonderful comfort food and something everyone in my family would enjoy.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Does it feel like spring yet in TX? It's very cold here. Lemon pie sounds great any time of year!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The temp here is all over the place. It hasn't gotten below the 50s during the day all winter, but it'll swing from 50s to 80s and back down over the course of a week. Mostly, it's been warm, though. I've enjoyed the few chilly, rainy days we had last week, but it looks like temps are on the rise again.

      Delete
  7. Haha, I am a sucker for weird titles and have been to make up a few of them myself! So I love "spring scented lunch" The chicken sounds good - too bad about the leeks though : (

    ReplyDelete