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In honor of Jason leaving tonight, I wanted to make something special and since I had fresh peas in the rotter, I decided to attempt a recreation of one of our favorite restaurant meals in London.
#72 Roasted Chicken Breasts It surprises me that I've never roasted chicken breasts before, but I usually just pan-fry boneless breasts. But to be true to my vision, it had to be roasted and following this recipe that turned out to be much easier than I had expected. The breasts took longer than the 15 minutes the recipe predicted--by about ten minutes--but were just lovely in the end. The skin was crispy and the meat tender and juicy. I will definitely be making these again, early and often!
#73 Simple PeasFor the peas, I went with the first recipe on this page and I don't know if my water wasn't boiling briskly enough, or what, but while they were just fine, more cooking would not have gone amiss.
I served this with mashed potatoes and was inspired by another recipe to add finely minced garlic to the cream and butter as I warmed them and the result was the best garlic mashed potatoes I've ever made. To be more precise, these were the first that transcended mashed-potatoes-with-some-garlic to actual garlic mash. At last, the secret is mine!
I also whipped up a tarragon-butter sauce according to this recipe, but I've done extremely similar things before, so I won't count it. It was very tasty, however, and pulled the whole plate together beautifully.
Now to figure out what I'll make for Jason's triumphant return!
#72 Roasted Chicken Breasts It surprises me that I've never roasted chicken breasts before, but I usually just pan-fry boneless breasts. But to be true to my vision, it had to be roasted and following this recipe that turned out to be much easier than I had expected. The breasts took longer than the 15 minutes the recipe predicted--by about ten minutes--but were just lovely in the end. The skin was crispy and the meat tender and juicy. I will definitely be making these again, early and often!
#73 Simple PeasFor the peas, I went with the first recipe on this page and I don't know if my water wasn't boiling briskly enough, or what, but while they were just fine, more cooking would not have gone amiss.
I served this with mashed potatoes and was inspired by another recipe to add finely minced garlic to the cream and butter as I warmed them and the result was the best garlic mashed potatoes I've ever made. To be more precise, these were the first that transcended mashed-potatoes-with-some-garlic to actual garlic mash. At last, the secret is mine!
I also whipped up a tarragon-butter sauce according to this recipe, but I've done extremely similar things before, so I won't count it. It was very tasty, however, and pulled the whole plate together beautifully.
Now to figure out what I'll make for Jason's triumphant return!
no subject
Date: 2009-07-12 10:41 am (UTC)I seem to cook my peas for 2 or 3 minutes. But I think this may be connected to how impossible it is to get fresh peas that are supremely fresh unless you grow them.
Tasty with slivered mint, too.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-12 01:30 pm (UTC)I think 2-3 minutes would have been good. These were still *very* crunchy. Still tasty, though.
I thought about tossing in some basil (my new secret ingredient--it seems to make all veggies taste better) but there was enough else going on and I wanted to keep the flavors simple.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-13 03:19 am (UTC)