FFwD: M. Jacques' Armagnac Chicken

I've cooked this week's French Fridays with Dorie recipe many times before, and I certainly don't need an excuse to cook M. Jacques' Armagnac Chicken (pg 204 of Around My French Table) again.  It's so easy and so delicious.

I've always roasted chicken with herbs, onions, carrots, and potatoes in the same pot. I never knew that simply pouring 1/2 cup of brandy in the pot, putting the lid on, and basically letting the whole shebang steam in the oven for an hour would produce such a moist bird with such delicious vegetables. I'm curious to see if any of the other Doristas managed to get a "beautifully browned chicken." It happened for me the very first time I made this, and hasn't since then. Since the bird is steaming, covered, it makes sense that the skin wouldn't crisp up. I just find it strange that Dorie goes out of her way to tell you to admire it's beauty. Oh well, nothing that a minute under the broiler can't solve.

I don't have the money to shell out for a bottle of Armagnac--especially since I'm certain we won't finish it before we move--so I've only made this recipe using cheap brandy, and it still tastes good. I know nothing about Armagnac, but I'm guessing it makes everything even better.

This time, I tried Dorie's Bonne Idee of adding some prunes in with the vegetables. The sweetness played well with the back-bite of the white pepper. I'm going to continue to use them, going forward.

Conclusion: Love it. The meat stays so tender, and the gravy left in the bottom of the pan is sooo good. I could eat it with a spoon. Charlie was revolted by every piece of it. At least he tasted the chicken, a carrot, and a potato, but you'd think I was feeding him maggots from the expression on his face. I had to scramble and cook some tortellini. I need to send the tortellini company flowers or something. They're one of my few foolproof Charlie foods. Oh well--more chicken for me.

Old Faithful

Balsamic Chicken with Baby Spinach and Couscous (pg 205 of The Food You Crave) has been one of my fallback "crap, I don't have time for this" recipes for several years now. It's easy. So very, very easy. Especially for a three-part meal that does manage to come together as greater than its individual parts.

Make couscous: Zip! Pound chicken breasts, add salt and pepper, then cook them through in olive oil. Remove from pan. Zam! In the same pan, add more oil, garlic, then the spinach. Wilt. Remove from pan. Zoom! Throw crushed tomatoes, chicken broth, and balsamic vinegar in the same pan, and cook it down for a few minutes. Layer the components, pour some of the sauce on top. Kapow! Done. And all it took was one pot and one pan.

 Conclusion: Like it's flavor, love it's ease.

I asked for a mini muffin pan for Christmas, thinking that maybe Charlie would be more interested in muffin items if they were scaled down to size. To test this theory, and in hopes that I'd get some small amount of a vegetable into him, I baked Pumpkin Pie Muffins (pg 21) today.

May I just say, it pisses me off when a recipe--especially for something like a muffin, which could be made in any quantity--doesn't use a whole can of pumpkin. What exactly am I supposed to do with less than half a can of pumpkin? Scale the recipe up to use the whole thing, Ellie. Come on.

Mama Muffin gives her babies a goodbye hug. I told her I was sending them to live on a farm.

Wastefulness aside, these muffins are good. I could use more spice (and more pumpkin. Ahem), but they were good. Not as good as my friend Hilary's mom's Pumpkin Bread, but it also has less butter and sugar.

Conclusion: Liked it, and I think they're Charlie Approved. He nibbled one throughout the afternoon, but he didn't spit it out. I guess that counts.

Things that Make Me Go "Mmmmm."

Ellie has found seafood redemption. After last night's crabcake bomb, I was a little hesitant to waste more expensive local seafood on her recipes, but I took my chances on Shrimp Scampi with Artichokes (pg 237 of The Food You Crave), because I'd already bought the ingredients.

The most time-consuming part of this recipe is shelling the shrimp. All you do is soften shallots and garlic in oil for a few minutes, then add the shrimp, white wine, lemon juice, frozen or canned artichoke hearts. Right at the end, add salt, pepper, and parsley.

Come to me, my lovely shrimp.

Conclusion: Loved it. This was great. Not okay, not good, but great. Easy and flavorful. Just about perfect. And, Charlie ate two shrimp. Woop woop!

My friend missed Charlie (they adore each other), so she invited us over for a lunch of tasty Persian food on Saturday so she could spend time with him. I had spare apples from that pie I didn't make over the holidays, so I made a recipe from David Lebovitz's Ready for Dessert that caught my eye the very first time I flipped through the book: Buckwheat Cake with Cider-Poached Apples (pg. 44).

Pulverized almonds are mixed in with the buckwheat flour, so the nuttiness really complements the cozy flavor of the buckwheat flour. On its own, the cake was good. With the poached apples, this dessert was three-thousand times more delicious. 3,000 is the result of a scientific calculation. My only small qualm is that Lebovitz says to spoon the apples and syrup over the cake. The problem is that the "syrup" is more juicy than it is syrupy, so it made the cake soggy. I prefer the apples and a slight drizzle of juice on the side.

Conclusion: Loved it. Buckwheat + almonds + apples = hearty perfection. Plus, Charlie really seems to enjoy buckwheat. He ate a lot of this cake.

Wow, that's two recipes in one post that included the word "perfect." Good stuff.

Round 'Em Up

I haven't really fallen behind on blogging about Ellie, but I did cook a number of her recipes in a short period of time, this could get long. I'll try to contain it. Short isn't my strong suit.

First, Cherry Vanilla Oatmeal (pg 36 of The Food You Crave). Dried cherries are cooked in the oatmeal, and once it's off the heat, stir in some cherry jam and vanilla extract. I usually put vanilla in the water before I add the oats. I'll add it after from now on. It retained much more of its flavor.

 Conclusion: Loved it.  Charlie Approved. He ate his whole bowlful. 

Three recipes made it into last night's dinner. Stuffed Turkey Burgers (pg 218) turned out okay, but it needed a lot of help. The burgers were stuffed with roasted red pepper and mozzarella. Good start. However, the ground turkey goes unseasoned. I don't think so. I added a bit of Worcestershire Sauce and a bit of BBQ sauce. Matt thought BBQ sauce was not the best choice, and some Italian spices would've been better. Ah, well.

Conclusion: Just okay.

Remember those radishes I bought last week? Orange, Radish, and Mint Salad (pg 129) seemed like an obvious way to use a few. I have to say, these Red Rocket Radishes (hehehehe...still funny) defied my experience of radishes and are mild and pleasant. This salad was crispy and refreshing.

Conclusion: Loved it.

I'm holding off judgment on Zucchini Parmesan Crisps (pg 251). I need to make them again, without adding salt "to taste." Holy mother, these were salty. I didn't even think I'd added that much. I hate it when things you can't taste say to add salt to taste. I still think this is a promising concept, in which you dip sliced zucchini in olive oil, then in a bread crumb and parm mixture, then bake. On his first taste, Charlie smiled and went, "Mmmm." Then his whole face contorted as the salt hit him and he launched the crisp across the table. He tasted the next, and the cycle repeated itself. Reading you loud and clear, little dude. Too salty. We couldn't eat them, either. Must give it another go.

Matt bought a pound of beautiful lump crab meat at the farmer's market this weekend, and we made the mistake of using half of it on Ellie's Crab Cakes (pg 240). They just didn't taste right.

I want to turn back time and rescue that crab meat.

Conclusion: Just okay. Bummer.

FFwD: Bubble-Top Brioches

I was very happy when the French Fridays with Dorie crew picked Dorie's Bubble-Top Brioches (pg 496 of Around My French Table) for this week, because I welcome any opportunity to bake bread. I love the smell of bread dough as it proofs, I love the physicality of kneading, I love the feeling of accomplishment as I pull it from the oven, and, of course, I love that first hot slice.

I haven't made a bread like brioche before. It's a sticky dough, with butter and eggs worked into it. To date, I've only baked crusty peasant loaves, so this was a little different. As I stared at the butter-streaked mess being mechanically kneaded by my KitchenAid mixer, I wasn't sure it was going to come together cohesively. I closed my eyes and decided to just go with it. As promised, ten minutes later, I had a nice, smooth ball of dough. Always trust in The Dorie.

The recipe wasn't hard, but it was inconvenient. It proofed for an hour and then needed to be refrigerated and de-poofed every half hour until the yeast slowed down. This took me about two and a half hours. It wasn't labor intensive, but the process did use up a giant chunk of the day. It's best left for a day when you have no plans to leave the house.

The dough sits in the fridge overnight. Three little balls of dough each go into 12 muffin tins, and then proof again. They get an egg wash, are baked, and come out of the oven beautifully browned and smelling buttery and rich. I immediately inhaled one. And then a second. And then a third.

In case you're wondering, three is too many. Two hours later, I still feel like I ate a boulder. I may pop yet. Consider yourself warned. Stop at two.

I will say, the finished texture didn't have "lovely spring and stretch," as Dorie said it would. A minor complaint about a tasty roll, but it tips me off that I probably didn't produce a perfect version.

I'm hoping that another Dorista made the loaf version of this recipe, because when I read it, I could not figure out how the logs of dough were meant to be placed in the loaf pan.

Conclusion: Liked it. Bread makes me happy. As with most bread-products, it's Charlie Approved.

If I Were a Magician, I'd Name Myself "Adobo the Great."

Confetti Chili (pg 187) earns its title "because it is flecked with multicolored vegetables" that "add excitement and texture." I think someone may be getting a little overzealous about the fun to be had by adding a carrot, a red pepper, and some corn to your chili.

That said, this was a perfectly respectable version of a healthy chili. It's been years since I've made a normal, not-packed-with-veg chili, so I'd be hard-pressed to say how it would compare.

Cumin, oregano, and coriander are the only spices added, and most of the flavor comes from one minced canned chipotle chili in adobo sauce. Those things are amazing, if you've never cooked with one. Nice and smoky, with a good kick. The flavor was good, but I was surprised that this recipe doesn't call for any chili powder. I think it could have used some. Or more salt. Something was missing.

Conclusion: Liked it, though next time, I'd play around with the spicing.

Tonight, We Finished the Leftovers

Praise the Refrigerator Gods! Matt lunched on our last bit of lasagne today, and for dinner we had a lovely combo of cauliflower gratin and stuffed cabbage. I fear it may be a stinky night. TMI? Sorry.

Because Green Pea Soup (pg 84) is mostly frozen peas in chicken broth, I was afraid that it would taste like the baby food puree I used to make for Charlie. Who'd have known that sauteed onion, tarragon, and a spoonful of Greek yogurt would make such a difference. This soup was remarkably tasty, especially considering that it took all of ten minutes to make.

 Conclusion: Liked it. This is a perfect soup if you're sick, because odds are you've got the ingredients in the house, and it takes no effort.

I forgot how much I love homemade granola and how much better it is than store-bought. Commercial brands always seem to coat my tongue in coconut oil, and I don't like how sweet they are. Gross. Nutty Granola (pg 38) is exactly right. No oil involved, and lightly sweetened with maple syrup and a dash of cinnamon. Crunchy, lots of nuts, just enough raisins.

Conclusion: Loved it, and I have a bucket-full now. With a bowl of yogurt and Ellie's recommended serving size, it kept me full for a good long time.