Last night’s dinner was perfectly fabulous, I must say. We tend to get into a bit of a rut with the same-old, same-old menus (pork chops, sauteed chicken breasts, burgers), so I tried to break out a bit. I poked around America’s Test Kitchen‘s recipe archive and I found an excellent recipe for pan-roasted chicken with a sage and vermouth sauce. I really like how nice and browned the chicken came out, and the sauce was relatively simple and quick. I’ll append the recipe below since ATK seems to demand you register just to access the recipe.
This week has dragged by slowly. Dan had some kind of nasty upper respiratory infection and initially it looked like I caught it too, but since I never developed a fever I guess it was just a nasty cold. It’s all but gone now, leaving me with a slight cough and sore throat and a rather hoarse voice. I’m sure it will all be over with by the end of the weekend.
Registrations for Midwest FurFest are pouring in as people try to beat the 9/30 deadline for cheap registration, and this makes me very happy. After the slow start in getting online registration up earlier this year I was concerned that our overall attendance might take a hit, but all that seems to have happened is people put off registering until the last minute. This is confirmed by the rate at which people are reserving rooms at the hotel. A word of warning: last year we came extremely close to selling out the hotel; this year I would not be surprised if we did in fact sell out. More importantly, as the hotel fills up, certain types of rooms become harder to get (i.e. double, king, whichever) and not being able to get one type or the other can really throw a wrench into people’s plans. Take my advice and reserve now.
Looking ahead to the weekend: Well, there’s Serenity tonight, of course. Tomorrow I have a ton of MFF stuff to work on, and rumor has it that we’ll be joined by hartree. Sunday is the MFF meeting, and while we’re out that way I want to duck into Ikea for a few things.
As promised,
Pan-Roasted Chicken Breasts with Sage-Vermouth Sauce
We prefer to split whole chicken breasts ourselves because store-bought
split chicken breasts are often sloppily butchered. However, if you
prefer to purchase split chicken breasts, try to choose 10- to 12-ounce
pieces with skin intact. If split breasts are of different sizes, check
the smaller ones a few minutes early to see if they are cooking more
quickly, and remove them from the skillet if they are done ahead.
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1. Dissolve salt in 2 quarts cold tap water in large container or bowl; submerge chicken in brine and refrigerate until fully seasoned, about 30 minutes. Rinse chicken pieces under running water and pat dry with paper towels. Season chicken with pepper. 2. Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 450 degrees. 3. Heat oil in heavy-bottomed 12-inch ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat until beginning to smoke; swirl skillet to coat with oil. Brown chicken skin-side down until deep golden, about 5 minutes; turn chicken pieces and brown until golden on second side, about 3 minutes longer. Turn chicken skin-side down and place skillet in oven. Roast until juices run clear when chicken is cut with paring knife, or thickest part of breast registers 160 degrees on instant-read thermometer, 15 to 18 minutes. Transfer chicken to platter, and let rest while making sauce. (If not making sauce, let chicken rest 5 minutes before serving.) 4. Using potholder to protect hands from hot skillet handle, pour off most of fat from skillet; add shallot, then set skillet over medium-high heat and cook, stirring frequently, until shallot is softened, about 1 1/2 minutes. Add chicken broth, vermouth, and sage; increase heat to high and simmer rapidly, scraping skillet bottom with wooden spoon to loosen browned bits, until slightly thickened and reduced to about 3/4 cup, about 5 minutes. Pour accumulated chicken juices into skillet, reduce heat to medium, and whisk in butter 1 piece at a time; season to taste with salt and pepper and discard sage. Spoon sauce around chicken breasts and serve immediately. |
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Oh man…*drools* I’ll definitely need to try that recipe sometime!
Not that I would recommend this, since it’s probably illegal and all that.
But.
http://www.bugmenot.com is an interesting site for those who do not like to register for sites.
Oh, I’m well aware of it. Given that Bugmenot has a history of going up and down and I couldn’t access it when I tried to make this post, I took the easy route and just posted the recipe, which is well within the area of fair use.
Another little-known fact about Bugmenot is that you’d be surprised what login info you can find…like for some “adult” sites, for instance…
we’re furs. We ALL wait for the LAST MOMENT! That’s a part of the culture.
There’s a drawing at Ikea for $10K in free merchandise. They’re celebrating their new store in Bollingbrook(?). You’ve probably heard the radio ads.