March 27, 2012 Dinner - Chicken and more Chicken

March 27, 2012 Dinner - Chicken and more Chicken

We went to the Palmers for dinner tonight.  Susan cooked a five pound roasting chicken in a large covered clay pot with a medley of leeks, yellow Yukon and pomme de terre potatoes, and carrots.  As she described it you soak the large casserole in water until it absorbs a lot of moisture and then you start cooking at a high temp and then lower the temp and cook for a long time and during the last thirty minutes the liquid from the pot and the vegetables evaporates and the chicken and vegetables brown.  Susan made brown gravy from the deglazed cooking solids and liquids left in the casserole and blanched string beans while I made a Béarnaise Sauce, a la Julia Child, but with a White Balsamic that was sweeter than regular white wine tarragon vinegar.  Not being familiar with the Palmer’s electric stove and not wishing to have the sauce fail, I kept the heat very low and the sauce did not get drive off much liquid and did not get as thick and creamy as normal.

Susan and Suzette worked together to sauté a pile of halved Brussels sprouts in a skillet until slightly brown. We brought a bottle of Jacques Bourguignon Chablis 2009 from Trader Joe’s ($8.99) that was light and fruity but without much elegance.  The minerality and lightness did go well with the browned roasted chicken and vegetables though.

After Susan made strawberry short cake for dessert with fresh strawberries and angel food cakes from Costco and whipped cream, which I dowsed liberally with blackberry liqueur and ate with sips of Triple sec.

The other chicken refers to the new Sou Bite cooker Charlie had just purchased from Costco (about $300.00) in which he cooked several slabs of chicken over a one to two hour period.  The Sou Bite cooks sealed bags of food at a constant temperature in a water bath basin.  The flavor of the Sou Bite cooked chicken meat was very tender when it came out of the water bath but it soon lost its succulent texture after it cooled or was sautéed in butter.  The meat seemed to have a more tender texture than other methods of cooking that apply heat to the surface of meat, such as sautéing or grilling.

Charlie says he is going to try a steak next.  I left a pitcher of Béarnaise Sauce to eat with it.  .

 Bon Appétit