Resolution Recipe - ambitious
Jul. 9th, 2004 11:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madbakerTaking the day off - the Giants game last night went late, as you might expect from a game that didn't start until 7:15 PM. That's okay, it's what vacation time is for.
This week I tried a recipe from a cookbook that I'm seriously considering getting rid of. Or something like that, he says ungrammatically and in a drawn-out, run-on fashion.
The recipes in this book sound yummy, but aren't really meant for the home cook. I think they're there to show you how wonderful a cook he is and why you should visit his restaurant.
For example, the recipe on Roasted Cornish Hens with Wilted Greens and Lentils.
The recipe tells you to get some uncooked chicken carcasses, solely so you can smoke them for an hour, then make stock from them. Admittedly I like the idea of smoked chicken stock, but I'm not willing to devote special time to it. That's why when I cook a bird I make stock in the next day or so and freeze it.
Also, for whatever reason whenever I cook Cornish Game Hens they take three times as long as they are supposed to. It doesn't matter how long the recipe says; it just always takes longer for the birds when I cook them. And they're small, they're not supposed to take that long. I don't have that problem with other birds - just Game Hens.
The greens and lentils would go better with the poultry if they were hot, which they would have been if the birds had cooked according to schedule.
Ah well. Whinging aside, the recipe as simplified by me was 1) okay, but not worth doing again; 2) a good way to use up the massive amount of salad greens from our CSA box; 3) the lentils were good and I'd make them again as a side dish. Using some leftover duck stock helped immensely; I could taste the duck fat, even if the spouse couldn't. But she doesn't care much for lentils and she's willing to eat this preparation again, so that's a win.
Game Hens
2 Cornish game hens, rinsed & dried
some unsalted butter, softened
minced or crushed garlic
chopped fresh thyme
salt & pepper
Heat the oven to 375. Rub the hens all over and inside with soften butter. Combine garlic, thyme, salt & pepper & sprinkle over hens, coating all sides evenly. Roast for 40 minutes (hah!) or until the thigh juices run clear. (Which was over an hour.)
Lentils
olive oil
small onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
3/4 cup lentils, soaked for at least 30 minutes
chicken stock & red wine
1 T balsamic vinegar
Heat oil in a heavy saucepan. Add the onions, carrots, and celery and saute for 2-3 minutes, until softened. Add lentils and saute 1 minute more. Add enough chicken stock and wine to cover the lentils. Bring to a simmer, cover partially, cook 25-30 minutes until tender but not mushy. Stir in vinegar, salt and pepper to taste.
Greens
olive oil
4 oz mixture of bitter greens (arugula, mustard, whatever - I used radish greens and chard, along with some leftover salad greens)
Heat a large heavy skillet and add oil. Add greens and saute until wilted and tender, time of which will depend on greens used.
Plating
Mound greens in the center of each plate and spoon lentils around the edges. Perch a roasted hen on the greens. Serve warm.
This week I tried a recipe from a cookbook that I'm seriously considering getting rid of. Or something like that, he says ungrammatically and in a drawn-out, run-on fashion.
The recipes in this book sound yummy, but aren't really meant for the home cook. I think they're there to show you how wonderful a cook he is and why you should visit his restaurant.
For example, the recipe on Roasted Cornish Hens with Wilted Greens and Lentils.
The recipe tells you to get some uncooked chicken carcasses, solely so you can smoke them for an hour, then make stock from them. Admittedly I like the idea of smoked chicken stock, but I'm not willing to devote special time to it. That's why when I cook a bird I make stock in the next day or so and freeze it.
Also, for whatever reason whenever I cook Cornish Game Hens they take three times as long as they are supposed to. It doesn't matter how long the recipe says; it just always takes longer for the birds when I cook them. And they're small, they're not supposed to take that long. I don't have that problem with other birds - just Game Hens.
The greens and lentils would go better with the poultry if they were hot, which they would have been if the birds had cooked according to schedule.
Ah well. Whinging aside, the recipe as simplified by me was 1) okay, but not worth doing again; 2) a good way to use up the massive amount of salad greens from our CSA box; 3) the lentils were good and I'd make them again as a side dish. Using some leftover duck stock helped immensely; I could taste the duck fat, even if the spouse couldn't. But she doesn't care much for lentils and she's willing to eat this preparation again, so that's a win.
Game Hens
2 Cornish game hens, rinsed & dried
some unsalted butter, softened
minced or crushed garlic
chopped fresh thyme
salt & pepper
Heat the oven to 375. Rub the hens all over and inside with soften butter. Combine garlic, thyme, salt & pepper & sprinkle over hens, coating all sides evenly. Roast for 40 minutes (hah!) or until the thigh juices run clear. (Which was over an hour.)
Lentils
olive oil
small onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
3/4 cup lentils, soaked for at least 30 minutes
chicken stock & red wine
1 T balsamic vinegar
Heat oil in a heavy saucepan. Add the onions, carrots, and celery and saute for 2-3 minutes, until softened. Add lentils and saute 1 minute more. Add enough chicken stock and wine to cover the lentils. Bring to a simmer, cover partially, cook 25-30 minutes until tender but not mushy. Stir in vinegar, salt and pepper to taste.
Greens
olive oil
4 oz mixture of bitter greens (arugula, mustard, whatever - I used radish greens and chard, along with some leftover salad greens)
Heat a large heavy skillet and add oil. Add greens and saute until wilted and tender, time of which will depend on greens used.
Plating
Mound greens in the center of each plate and spoon lentils around the edges. Perch a roasted hen on the greens. Serve warm.
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no subject
Date: 2004-07-09 12:15 pm (UTC)If it's just two birds in a standard-sized home kitchen oven, you may be losing more heat to the door than into the birds.
Do you have a larger-sized toaster oven? That may do the trick. Alternatively, two baking stones (or a bunch of regular bricks) pre-heated at the top and bottom of the oven acting as heat sinks might also help.
My first guess is that it's a heat loss problem with the door. That and the hens are two tiny things in a big ol' oven -- a scale problem. I've also seen a trick where a pre-heated wide-mouthed terra cotta flowerpot was inverted over some small food items inside the oven, which served to reduce the scale of the source-to-food problem.
Just my two scudii.
(Sources: Uh... education. And my graduate thesis: "Differential Scanning Calorimetry at Low Temperatures and Pressures". I used to be an expert on heat transfer. Not anymore.)
no subject
Date: 2004-07-09 02:05 pm (UTC)I know, because I've tried both those approaches. The toaster oven, and making sure that the regular oven is heating correctly. I also store a baking stone in the bottom of the regular oven which helps regulate the temperature.
I think I'm just supposed to stick to regular chickens and turkeys. Those, I can roast and have them come out on time.
Temperature..
This has resulted in more temp accuracy and significantly better browned bread, etc.. I found that I have to turn my oven to around 25-50 degrees higher.
Anyway, the recipe actually sounds kinda nice to me.. faily middle eastern in style actually. But of course, the smoked carcasses is just a bit overkill for the normal home cook. I may freeze my next few carcasses and just try smoking them next time I want to make stock though. That would be a reasonable approach.