Weeknight Roast Chicken (Foxhollow farms Chicken) (p8 September/October 2011 Cook's Illustrated)
I'm really glad this turned out. I'm always a little apprehensive about trying new recipes on the Foxhollow chicken. It's delicious if you do it right, but it's not exactly price competitive with anything in the supermarket. But the high heat cooking and then no heat cooking really led to a really delicious and juicy chicken. I also used the quick mashed potatoes recipe from week 31. It made for a good dinner. I cut off the breasts and we had those, and later, after the chicken fully cooled, I took off as much meat as I could and then made a chicken salad for Shannon's dinner the next night.
Crooked Gap Farm Bratwurst
The casing on these were a bit thick, and the sausages were a bit uneven and the casings weren't always closed. That being said, it was a good mixture of spices and pork, so even with that, I'd probably buy them again. I almost said something today, but decided against it. Before I served them to Shannon, I actually peeled off the casings so we didn't have to eat them. Perhaps it's a new machine, or the packer doesn't have the experience yet, but it wasn't done well. We topped these with a new pepper pesto? We had it the first time going out to see the Sullivan pepper farm. Anyways, it is delicious and added and extra deliciousness to the bratwurst.
Crooked Gap Farm Pork Burgers
Again, pretty good. Happy to eat them.
Fun with Crackers, Melon and Cheese
Melon was ok, the Watermelon was nice sweet and watery like a watermelon should be. Cutting into the watermelon it really came apart like the good people at Grinnell Heritage Farm said they were doing in the field. Shannon's not a big fan of the watermelon (or any watermelons), so I imagine I'll be having a combination of the two for breakfast the next while or so.
Banquo, Little Boy Blue,
Hidden Falls, Reichert's Chèvre
Ok, so to me, the clear winner here is the Little Boy Blue (middle row, right side, category winner ACS). Now let me be clear, these were all delicious, I'm just partial to blue. So a night of excellent cheese, some crackers and some juicy watermelon. Quite the meal.
Balsamic Pesto Pasta
So I followed a general recipe for this (from The Splendid Table by way of Cleverly Farms) and then instead of using it for green beans, I put it on some pasta, and then sprinkled with some freshly grated parmesan. It turned out pretty well. The thing about this was that every time I walked through or even near the kitchen for the 30 hours that the basil was in there, was to get that fragrant smell. I'd walk in, and think, what's that good smell, and remember that the basil was there again. Such a good use and relatively inexpensive for that amount of basil.
Triple Pepper Pizza
Other things happened, this is delayed until Sunday.
This week we went down to Gusto with the Mattas while they were traveling through town. It was nice to see them and good to have the pizza. I also went out to El Bait Shop and Red Monk with Josh, for a guys night. It was nice to get out.