For dinner last night was Spice-Rubbed Picnic Chicken. This recipe required the chicken to refrigerate 6 to 24 hours after being rubbed with the spice mixture. This ensure that chicken would be tender and flavorful throughout the entire piece. After the chicken set it was baked in the oven at a high temperature for about 25 to 30 minutes. After the chicken was finished cooking it needed to cool completely. I let it cool for about 10 to 15 minutes before we ate it. It turned out really well, the rub really made this recipe. I'm glad we have a lot of left overs!
In addition to the picnic chicken we also had American Potato Salad with Hard-cooked Eggs and Sweet pickles. This recipe was prepared ahead of time and called for red potatoes that were required to refrigerate in red wine vinegar and salt and pepper for 20 minutes after cooking and before adding the dressing. This definitely gave the potatoes more flavor. This recipe turned out great and is a repeater along with the chicken!
The other night we were short on time and were hungry for dinner, so I decided to make Pasta with Garlic and Oil. It was a very simple recipe that was prepared in about 20 minutes. Most of the 12 garlic cloves used in this recipe were cooked over low heat for about 10 minutes, to bring some of the potency out of the garlic. The recipe also called for a touch of red pepper and lemon juice that really brought out the flavor of the dish. We both really loved it topped with Parmesan Cheese. The only complaint my husband had was that there was no meat, so I grilled him a chicken breast to go along with it. Overall a great dish!
Today's dinner was only half a success. The Classic Tuna Salad was the success. It was creamy, yet crunchy and full of flavor. I would have to say it was probably the best Tuna Salad I have had.
The Mac & Cheese was the failure and certainly not because of the recipe. In fact, it looked absolutely amazing. The noodles were perfectly tender and not soggy with cheese. The topping was browned just right. I couldn't what to eat it. Then I took one bite...salty...really salty...really, really salty. The recipe said to salt the pasta water, but it didn't say to rinse the noodles. I thought that might have been the problem, because I recalled that 3 tablespoons did seem like a lot of salt to add to the water. But why would they have you salt the macaroni then rinse it off. I thought maybe it said 3 teaspoons. So I looked back at the recipe, sure enough it said 1 tablespoon. I remember now, I was looking at the 3 tablespoons of butter it called for. I am so mad about this. I had to dump the entire dish it was bad and there was a lot of it. This was the second day in a row that I messed up on the ingredients. I really need to pay more attention in the future. I think I learned my lesson this time. Word of advice...double check EVERYTHING!
Next on the menu:
Picnic Chicken
American Potato Salad w/ hard-cooked eggs & Sweet pickles
As requested by my husband, I made Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies. This was a very easy recipe, especially since I already had all of the ingredients. This cookies required 2 sticks of butter (these are not low-fat cookies!). The recipe did require the use of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. My mixer just has the regular beater attachments, it worked fine but I had to scrap the beaters often. Everything went fairly well until I realized that I had forgotten to add in the brown sugar. I added regular sugar, but completely spaced the brown sugar. I realized this mistake after I had already added the oats and raisins. I tried using the mixer again to blend in the brown sugar, but it was just too thick. So I used my hands and basically kneaded it in. These cookies are meant to be very large. On my first batch (I had to make my batches separately, since I only have 1 cookie sheet) I made the balls too small and they are slightly more crunchy than my second batch which turned out perfect. My husband loves them. They have a nice buttery, oat flavor and are very chewy. Will definitely make again.
For dinner last night my husband and I made Charcoal-grilled Bone-in Chicken Breast with a soy-ginger glaze. While America's Test Kitchen's method to grill chicken involved a three-step process, it did produce a very juicy and tender chicken with a crisp, brown skin. The soy-ginger glaze had a nice flavor to it, although my husband didn't care much for the Asian flavor. If I were to prepare the soy-ginger glaze again I would reduce the amount by at least half. There was a lot leftover that just went to waste.
In addition to the chicken breast, we also charcoal-grilled Potatoes with Garlic and Rosemary. I chose this recipe to go with the chicken breast because they both required both the direct and in-direct method of grilling. Basically I timed it by placing one on the direct side and the other on the indirect side, then switched when the time was right. The recipe was fairly simple but it did involve several steps of oiling the potatoes. This was where I think some of my problems with the final flavor came about. For one, the recipe required the use of wooden skewers. I had forgot to get them at the store, so I had my husband pick up some while he was out. He came home with metal skewers. Problem. The recipe requires the potatoes to be microwaved on the skewers prior to grilling. Since I was unable to do that, I just microwaved them in a bowl instead. All was OK, until I realized that I was suppose to oil and salt them first. They were almost completely done in the microwave when I realized this, so I oiled and salted them at that time. Once they were done in the microwave, I then placed them on the skewers (hot potatoes, ouch!) and completed the remaining oiling and grilling steps.
The potatoes themselves were cooked to perfection but the flavor of the potatoes where not as strong as I would have liked them to be. That was my fault for not oiling and salting prior to the microwave step.
Poached Salmon with Herb and Caper Vinaigrette was a success. It was a quick and simple meal to prepare in under 30 minutes. The salmon was very juicy with a pleasant lemony, herb flavor. The only problem I ran into was removing the skin from the salmon. I followed the notes in the cookbook on how to do it, I guess it takes a little practice and probably a sharper knife.
In addition to the Poached Salmon, I also prepared Green Beans with Toasted Hazelnuts and Brown Butter. I really liked these. My husband described them as tasting like popcorn. I would have to somewhat agree. I really did like them a lot, though. My husband just thought that they were just "OK". He enjoyed the salmon more.
Both dishes were very quick and simple to prepare and I would definitely make them again.
Next on the menu:
Charcoal grilled bone-in Chicken breast with soy-ginger sauce
Grilled potatoes w/ garlic & rosemary
and because my husband says he needs more desserts after dinner:
Tonight's dinner turned out very well. My husband and I enjoyed pan-seared steak (I used a boneless top sirloin) topped with tomato-caper pan sauce and broiled asparagus. The steaks were cooked to medium-rare and were very tender and juicy on the inside, while the outside were perfectly seared. I topped the sliced steak with a tomato-caper pan sauce that I prepared while the steaks were resting. The broiled asparagus was tossed in olive oil, salt, and pepper and was broiled for 10 minutes, also while the steak was resting. In all, this entire meal took about 20 to 25 minutes to prepare. Both the steak and the asparagus turned out well. The only problem was that the asparagus were not very thick or in the best condition to begin with, causing them to wilt slightly. Despite that, though, they did have good flavor. This will definitely be a repeat meal!
Next on the menu:
Poached Salmon with herb and caper Vinaigrette
Green beans with toasted hazelnuts and brown butter
In addition to the picnic chicken we also had American Potato Salad with Hard-cooked Eggs and Sweet pickles. This recipe was prepared ahead of time and called for red potatoes that were required to refrigerate in red wine vinegar and salt and pepper for 20 minutes after cooking and before adding the dressing. This definitely gave the potatoes more flavor. This recipe turned out great and is a repeater along with the chicken!
As requested by my husband, I made Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies. This was a very easy recipe, especially since I already had all of the ingredients. This cookies required 2 sticks of butter (these are not low-fat cookies!). The recipe did require the use of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. My mixer just has the regular beater attachments, it worked fine but I had to scrap the beaters often. Everything went fairly well until I realized that I had forgotten to add in the brown sugar. I added regular sugar, but completely spaced the brown sugar. I realized this mistake after I had already added the oats and raisins. I tried using the mixer again to blend in the brown sugar, but it was just too thick. So I used my hands and basically kneaded it in. These cookies are meant to be very large. On my first batch (I had to make my batches separately, since I only have 1 cookie sheet) I made the balls too small and they are slightly more crunchy than my second batch which turned out perfect. My husband loves them. They have a nice buttery, oat flavor and are very chewy. Will definitely make again.
In addition to the chicken breast, we also charcoal-grilled Potatoes with Garlic and Rosemary. I chose this recipe to go with the chicken breast because they both required both the direct and in-direct method of grilling. Basically I timed it by placing one on the direct side and the other on the indirect side, then switched when the time was right. The recipe was fairly simple but it did involve several steps of oiling the potatoes. This was where I think some of my problems with the final flavor came about. For one, the recipe required the use of wooden skewers. I had forgot to get them at the store, so I had my husband pick up some while he was out. He came home with metal skewers. Problem. The recipe requires the potatoes to be microwaved on the skewers prior to grilling. Since I was unable to do that, I just microwaved them in a bowl instead. All was OK, until I realized that I was suppose to oil and salt them first. They were almost completely done in the microwave when I realized this, so I oiled and salted them at that time. Once they were done in the microwave, I then placed them on the skewers (hot potatoes, ouch!) and completed the remaining oiling and grilling steps.
