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.