I Get Why The French Go To The Market Daily
ever since taking over the cooking duties, i've graduated from making things like tuna salad sandwiches, macaroni-n-cheese, lasagna, spagetti and tomato sauce (ragu that i doctor significantly), chili, toasted cheese sandwiches, etc. i've gradually spread my wings (no pun intended) to include martha's roasted chicken, kugel, flavorful salmon, perfectly-roasted/sauteed vegetables (including ridiculously easy corn-on-the-cob), fantastic chicken salad, etc.
now, i haven't hit a home run every time. on monday, i made rachel ray's almond crusted chicken cutlets with scallion beurre blanc. my problem was that i didn't actually have chicken cutlets. at our grubstore you can either purchase boneless, skinless chicken breasts or boneless, skinless chicken strips/tenders. so, i opted for the chicken breasts, pounded them flat, and cut them each in half. still, i don't think they were flat enough. i was also supposed to grind the almonds in the food processor, but i used my handy steel kitchen mallot and crushed them into small pieces--just not small enough.
and then the sauce (beurre blanc) never thickened. and i added an extra step, which was also probably my downfall--instead of just dipping the chicken into beaten eggs like the recipe directed, i first dipped them in flour, then into the egg, then into the seasoned bread crumbs with crushed almonds. and i guess it might not have been a good idea to try to cook all the pieces of chicken at once, instead of in batches as ole rachel's recipe mentioned. anyway, the chicken turned out moist but practically had no flavor. very disappointing. maybe if i seasoned the chicken more and was able to make the sauce correctly it would be okay. not sure i want to, but it might be worth it.
last night i decided to try the barefoot contessa's parker stew recipe. now i had to marinate, overnight in the refrigerator, the stew meat (two pounds) with an entire bottle of red wine, three whole cloves of garlic, and three bay leaves. i probably spent 1 1/2 hours of prep work when i got home yesterday and it wasn't tough stuff--chopped mushrooms, onion, carrots, and potatoes, plus minced garlic. again, i didn't follow the recipe as i only chopped half an onion and less than the 1/2 pound of mushrooms as recommended. then i really veered from the recipe when i decided to dredge all the stew meat at once in the flour versus doing it in batches. and i cooked all the meat at the same time, again, not in batches as recommended by the recipe.
i think i was supposed to take all the meat out and keep it warm and use the same pot to cook the vegetables. but i opted to saute the vegetables in a separate pan. i kinda deglazed the pot with the meat with the leftover marinade as recommended. and i added the chicken stock, worcestershire sauce, two sprigs of rosemary, etc. but i added the frozen peas (and i also did frozen corn) instead of waiting until the stew came out of the oven. i wanted the stew done before like 9:00 p.m., so i opted to cook the stew at 350 degrees (versus 300 degrees) for 1 1/2 hours versus two. and it was okay. the problem is, it tasted too much like the wine marinade. i think the adorable one and i got buzzed on one bowl of soup, no joke. the sad part was, it just didn't really taste very good. and based on the long prep time, i don't think i would make this again.
so tonight, i'm going to make something much simpler and quicker. i'll pair it with sauteed green beans, which should be decent. this weekend, i'm making a new ham recipe, which again, i hope turns out because we're having my twin and her hubby over for dinner. i'll probably try this sesame asparagus recipe or just saute some stalks with sugar snap peas.
anyway, the point is, i'm spending more time every week at the grocery. which isn't a bad thing. i'm becoming more familiar on where to find stuff, but i still have to backtrack and i always forget one item. but i see why the french hit the market every day because you have to get ingredients. i would love to say that we have all this stuff laying around our house, but we don't.
i've got a couple more recipes i'm jonesing to try, so i imagine as this continues, i'll be on a first-name basis with all the folks at the grocery store. the funny thing is, i used to make a weekly grocery store run and always hated having to go for a second trip. now, i'm there three times a week and i kinda like it.
okay, how weird is that?!
now, i haven't hit a home run every time. on monday, i made rachel ray's almond crusted chicken cutlets with scallion beurre blanc. my problem was that i didn't actually have chicken cutlets. at our grubstore you can either purchase boneless, skinless chicken breasts or boneless, skinless chicken strips/tenders. so, i opted for the chicken breasts, pounded them flat, and cut them each in half. still, i don't think they were flat enough. i was also supposed to grind the almonds in the food processor, but i used my handy steel kitchen mallot and crushed them into small pieces--just not small enough.
and then the sauce (beurre blanc) never thickened. and i added an extra step, which was also probably my downfall--instead of just dipping the chicken into beaten eggs like the recipe directed, i first dipped them in flour, then into the egg, then into the seasoned bread crumbs with crushed almonds. and i guess it might not have been a good idea to try to cook all the pieces of chicken at once, instead of in batches as ole rachel's recipe mentioned. anyway, the chicken turned out moist but practically had no flavor. very disappointing. maybe if i seasoned the chicken more and was able to make the sauce correctly it would be okay. not sure i want to, but it might be worth it.
last night i decided to try the barefoot contessa's parker stew recipe. now i had to marinate, overnight in the refrigerator, the stew meat (two pounds) with an entire bottle of red wine, three whole cloves of garlic, and three bay leaves. i probably spent 1 1/2 hours of prep work when i got home yesterday and it wasn't tough stuff--chopped mushrooms, onion, carrots, and potatoes, plus minced garlic. again, i didn't follow the recipe as i only chopped half an onion and less than the 1/2 pound of mushrooms as recommended. then i really veered from the recipe when i decided to dredge all the stew meat at once in the flour versus doing it in batches. and i cooked all the meat at the same time, again, not in batches as recommended by the recipe.
i think i was supposed to take all the meat out and keep it warm and use the same pot to cook the vegetables. but i opted to saute the vegetables in a separate pan. i kinda deglazed the pot with the meat with the leftover marinade as recommended. and i added the chicken stock, worcestershire sauce, two sprigs of rosemary, etc. but i added the frozen peas (and i also did frozen corn) instead of waiting until the stew came out of the oven. i wanted the stew done before like 9:00 p.m., so i opted to cook the stew at 350 degrees (versus 300 degrees) for 1 1/2 hours versus two. and it was okay. the problem is, it tasted too much like the wine marinade. i think the adorable one and i got buzzed on one bowl of soup, no joke. the sad part was, it just didn't really taste very good. and based on the long prep time, i don't think i would make this again.
so tonight, i'm going to make something much simpler and quicker. i'll pair it with sauteed green beans, which should be decent. this weekend, i'm making a new ham recipe, which again, i hope turns out because we're having my twin and her hubby over for dinner. i'll probably try this sesame asparagus recipe or just saute some stalks with sugar snap peas.
anyway, the point is, i'm spending more time every week at the grocery. which isn't a bad thing. i'm becoming more familiar on where to find stuff, but i still have to backtrack and i always forget one item. but i see why the french hit the market every day because you have to get ingredients. i would love to say that we have all this stuff laying around our house, but we don't.
i've got a couple more recipes i'm jonesing to try, so i imagine as this continues, i'll be on a first-name basis with all the folks at the grocery store. the funny thing is, i used to make a weekly grocery store run and always hated having to go for a second trip. now, i'm there three times a week and i kinda like it.
okay, how weird is that?!
posted by the princess at 8/30/2006
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