Click on the previous entry's comments if you want to try the French out for yourself.
So how did the dinner turn out?? Absolutely FABABULOUS!!! Now granted, I didn't use the highest quality of ingredients, as I simply don't feel like buying a bottle of expensive white wine just to cook with a cup of it, but the flavor was amazing. Just think what it would taste like if I had splurged on fancy ingredients!!!
I bought a cookbook last week: "Bistro Chicken: 100 Easy Yet Elegant Recipes with French Flair". It was on sale, and we eat a LOT of chicken in this house, so I figured, what the heck??
The first recipe I tried was just glorified chicken fingers. You were to add basil and parmesan cheese to the flour as you dredged the chicken before panfrying it. While it was good, I have yet to be convinced that adding seasoning to dredging flour adds any kind of flavor. I'm going to side with Mr Alton Brown on this one and say you oughta put flavorings onto the chicken itself, before you dredge it in the flour. That way you can actually taste the seasonings.
As an aside, I have to admit that Mr Alton Brown and I are in agreement on other things as well. During one episode, he mentioned that "raisins are ALWAYS optional!" Right on, Mr Brown... right on.
But the chicken fingers were good anyhow. I can't panfry to save my life, however. I never get my pan warm enough before I put the chicken in, and then by the time the pan is heated, the chicken has begun to burn on the outside, which causes me to think it's getting ready to be done on the inside when really it's still raw.
Yes, I have issues while cooking.
Tonight as I was playing Pogo with my good buddy Art, I realized it is damn cold in my house. Since's today's high temperature was a whopping 64�, I wasn't terribly surprised, but I was freezing my patootie off. Hence, it was time to bake something in the oven for dinner.
In that French cookbook are plenty of recipes for baking chicken, and I was really interested in a tagine recipe that unfortunately took two hours to bake. I didn't have two hours. So instead I went with Poulet au Vinagre, Chicken with Vinegar. It sound gross, I know, but it's smelling HEAVENLY.
I had bought a grill pack of chicken (two breasts with four leg quarters) at the commissary for $5 today, so I split it into two packs for various recipes. I took one pack and browned it in my not-nonstick pan (you get a much better browning if you don't use nonstick pans) with butter and oil (the butter adds so much flavor). Then you're to remove the chicken, saute shallots and garlic in the drippings with tomato paste, deglaze the pan with red wine, then dump everything into a Dutch oven with chicken broth and white wine and simmer for 45-60 minutes. Yes, I realized at this point I wasn't going to be using the oven, but the simmering is getting the house warm enough. After the chicken's cooked, you're to reduce the sauce, then add heavy cream (I'll be using whole milk instead), and reduce some more.
Voila! Dinner.
I wish I could post how good it smells. Yum frickin' yum!! I'll post the recipe here later if anyone is interested.
On a whole 'nother note, the UPS guy just rang my doorbell. I don't know why they come so late in the day to my house; shouldn't they be home with their families eating dinner??? I almost wanted to invite the poor guy in for some Poulet au Vinagre... not like I know how to pronounce it.
And what did the UPS guy bring me, pray tell???
These!!
(Just for the record, these are my third pair of Birkenstocks that actually fit. I have two other pairs that are now too small thanks to pregnancy. These are also my second-to-last pair; I've told Kurt I'm buying one more pair of fun sandals next summer.)
Oh yes... and please disregard the socks. I know they don't match; I never match my socks and my outfit. My socks always match each other, however. I guess my socks DO sort of match my outfit. I'm wearing a pink and orange striped shirt...