Brandied Chicken Breasts

Thank you all for welcoming me into what is arguably the hottest culinary quarantine destination on the internet. Certainly an upgrade from Antoni's haunted "Quar-eye" instagram series. It's an honor and a privilege to be here.

This first edition is a little wonky, since I had to use what I already had on hand. I couldn't find my copy of JoC, so I had to call my dad and have him text me chicken breast recipes, which also didn't include page numbers. Worry not, I just ordered a new (used) copy (from Thriftbooks, Jessie- no bezos blood money was exchanged), and future entries will be standardized.

Now onto the main event.



I was very pleased with how this turned out. I've never brandied meat before, and it effectively locked in the flavor and kept the bird juicy even though I overcooked it. I rubbed the chicken with brandy and the spice mixture and let it sit for about 20 mins. Instead of sherry I used regular red wine and I think it tasted just fine.

The sauce here came together really easily. It was similar to a hollandaise I think, and I was a little concerned bc I don't have a lot of experience with cream-based sauces. I reduced the amount of recommended heavy cream and used about 3/4 cup. Because I only cooked 2 breasts this left us with more than enough sauce. I didn't top with swiss cheese, because I don't think I've ever kept it in the house. JoC LOVES swiss, I see it in so many recipes! Maybe it's time to broaden my horizons.



I did top with bread crumbs and broiled, and it really did crisp up nicely on top. Coupled with a salad and some grains we had left over in the pantry, this one was a smash success.

Finished chickie

Louie couldn't be happier as we settle down to watch "DEVS",
a show I am bored by, but resigned to for lack of options. I was
lobbying for curb, but was denied bc he doesn't like "tense tv"...
.... .... ironic as this dumb opinion is the source of plenty of tension
in our household. King of the Hill is the great unifier, thanks to Beth
for showing me the genius of that perfect show so long ago. 

I apologize for this layout, it's nasty. I'm learning. 

Molly: 4/5 stars... but 5/5 stars for the preparation, it was easy and the flavor payoff was huge.

Louie: 4/5 stars

Blackbird: 5/5 stars

Basic Bean Salad (pg 129)

One of the reasons Joy of Cooking is so often given as a wedding or graduation gift is because instead of giving you a just straightforward recipe, it makes sure you understand what makes a recipe work and how to make adjustments to it.  Optional ingredients are denoted by parentheses

I tossed in quite a few

This bean salad recipe breaks down like this:
cooked beans (any kind)
olive oil, lemon juice, salt & pepper
pretty much any other ingredient you feel like tossing in there.

Let it marinate a bit and voila, it's lunch.

We ate it over a couple of days and it just kept getting better.  Did I learn anything?  No, but for someone looking to use up some extra beans (and who doesn't have a can of beans moldering on a shelf somewhere?) it's a keeper.

Julie:  ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Mike:  ⭐⭐⭐ (he said it was boring--this is why I let him do the cooking)

Apple Dumplings (Pg. 688) Pies and Pastries

The opening paragraph says this is, "hands down, one of our favorite recipes in this entire book."  With that introduction I launched into what was expected to be something extraordinary.  Unfortunately, I would classify this as good, not great.

My Assistant Peeled the Apples

The idea is simple enough. Make a pastry dough, wrap it around apples and pour the syrup over it and bake.

I already had pastry dough in the fridge, one of the joys of being home, I can make pastry dough ahead. However, I suspect in normal times most of us don't have a batch of pastry dough at the ready. Obviously, you can use pre-made store bought, but those are never as good.

The Filling

I'm pretty adept at rolling out pastry dough into a near circle for pie, but rolling dough into rectangles turns out not to be that easy.  They recommend rolling out one big rectangle and cutting it into smaller rectangles to wrap your apples.  After trying to make a large rectangle, that could be cut into four uniform smaller rectangles, I realized it is much easier to divide your dough into the number of apples you have and roll each one individually into rectangles.  

Another complication comes in the size of the apples.  The size they describe as small apples are smaller than any apple I've seen commercially available. I used what I consider smaller apples, and they were still larger than even what they consider a large apple.  You will definitely want to cut your apples in half. I left two of the apples whole and halved the third one, making four portions out of three apples.  When wrapping the dough, I found it hard to get a nice finished look on the top where it all comes together and the half apples were not attractive at all. Sorry, no pictures of the ugly halves.

The Syrup with Lemon Slices

If you are successful in getting the dough rolled into even rectangles and wrapped around the apples, the rest of this is very easy.  The syrup recipe is very simple and I have to say, tastes amazing. The addition of the lemon slices is the key.  Do not skip the lemon slices and try to substitute lemon juice instead, it won't be as good. It seems strange to put entire lemon slices into the syrup, but once you taste the final result you will understand why it is important.

Because my apples were larger, the baking time took longer, but that didn't really seem to cause any problems.  You want to bake them until the apples are soft and you can stick a toothpick into them without resistance.  You don't want crunchy apples.  

Basting these while they bake is not easy, but is definitely worth doing.  Also, go easy on the initial pour of syrup over the dumplings. You don't want too much liquid in the bottom to start. But, do try to use as much of the syrup as you can, since it is the best part.

The Finished Product: Not Pretty

In terms of ingredients this is pretty simple, but technique is one of the more difficult things I've made in the book.  A second try would probably be much better, now that I've made all the rookie mistakes.

It does taste pretty amazing, and is really good with ice cream.  But, honestly, an apple pie is nearly the same and probably easier to make.

I would give this a 3/5. Make an apple pie and call it a day.
Julie only had a bite, and gave it a 4/5.
Ed ate it without complaint, so I would say 4/5.

Orange Rum Cake (Pg. 735) Ravioli (Pg. 313)

Easter happened so we had to make a cake. I didn't read many of the options before settling on Orange Rum, especially when I saw the recommended frosting was a chocolate glaze! The ingredients were really simple and the glaze was a breeze as well. It called for "dark rum" I don't really know what that is but I had a rum and I used it to saturate the cake after it cooled a bit.    

 

Here's my make shift double boiler. 

 

   Sean: 3 stars (he thought it tasted dry, maybe needed more rum?)

 Beth: 4 stars (really good!)

We made ravioli too, not very noteworthy. Needed a pasta machine.

Sean: 3 stars
Beth: 2 stars

             

Sean made Bee's Knees 5 stars all around

Cheese Crackers (pg. 70): Definitely not Cheez-Its

We've been eating a lot of chips, so I thought we better throw in some variety and add cheese crackers to the mix. They were pretty fun to make. You get to roll out the dough as flat as you can and cut little squares. I should have tried to do fun shapes, like cat heads or face masks, but I didn't have the energy.

Oh yeah, I tried to use the Vitamix instead of a food processor, which I thought would be better but I guess not. It was like 6am and I pretty much had to put the Vitamix on full blast and instead ended up burning out the motor and almost stripping the gear. Turns out none of that is necessary when you have two functioning hands.

I forgot that you're supposed to flour a surface and not cover it with vegetable oil to help make things not stick, so the first batch tasted a little more... fried? The second batch got a lot thinner and I think they crisped better in the oven. The end product is fine. They taste good, but they're pretty dry to eat. I think they work better as dog treats.

Em: ⭐⭐⭐
Jess: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rogi: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ for sit, ⭐⭐⭐⭐ for lay down, ⭐⭐⭐ for come, ⭐ for NO JUMPING
(By: Em)

Baked Pork Ribs (pg 490) with Sweet and Smoky Spice Rub (pg 587)

This was another case of cooking what we could find.  We don't eat ribs very often because a picky eater in the house doesn't like barbecue sauce.  But dry rub is a different matter.

This was equal parts of smoked paprika, brown sugar, and black pepper with a touch of cumin and salt.   It gets rubbed on the ribs, which are then wrapped in foil and slow baked.

We skipped the optional sauce mop.

These were very tender and couldn't get much easier.  The rub was sort of boring (black pepper doesn't have a real depth of flavor) but they were mild enough for my dad to be able to eat once we wiped the rub off his portion.  Would definitely make again with a different rub (and Joy has others).

Julie: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Mike:  ⭐⭐⭐ (boring)

Mango Lassi (Pg. 13)

Had one wrinkly mango on the counter so made a half batch of the mango lassi. It was good, it's such a simple recipe hard to screw up, but I honestly thought it could be a lot better. You'll need a good blender to get the ice to be "partially crushed." I didn't have this.

Without any liquid it was super hard to blend, but the consistency was nice. Mostly tasted like whipped mango yogurt. Could have used some milk like just a little at least? And how about some cardamom or cinnamon or something? Real lazy job Joy.

Sean: 10 out of 10 stars
Beth: 2 stars for wasted opportunity