Ninth Sunday

Theme for the evening's dinner was homey and easy -- which in the end turned out fair to middling and not that easy. The menu consisted of carrot soup, chicken breasts brined in orange juice, baby-red potatoes, buttermilk biscuits and chocolate mousse with tuille cookies. In attendance was the original clan minus Pinguica who had a previous commitment. The cooking commenced at 2:30 and ended at about 5:30.

As you can see from the picture the food inspector was on hand to make sure everything was being made properly. She's not quite sure that we have enough onion for the carrot soup -- thus the slightly diapproving look we were able to capture.

Our dinner review in a nutshell -- the soup was incredible; the chicken delicious but a bit dry, the potatoes good but not our favorite, the biscuits heavy and dry; the mousse with cookies excellent though very rich. I took the recipe for the Biscuits and the Tuille cookies from the Art and Soul of Baking. Although the book is beautiful and has a great introduction both recipes left much to be desired. My recommendation is to check this enormous book out from the library but don't buy.

The recipe for the Panfried Smashed Potatoes came from this month's Gourmet magazine (which somebody thoughtfully left behind at the healthclub) and was visually beautiful but required a little something-something to make it more memorable. This recipe is worth repeating with some alterations, I'm thinking white pepper, extra virgin olive oil and maybe some hot pepper flakes will give it some zing.

The carrot soup and Pan Roasted Chicken with Orange Brandy Sauce came from this month's Fine Cooking and are repeats here in our test kitchen. The recipe for the chicken recommends skin on chicken breasts which I regret I did not have -- I should have compensated with less cooking time. Next time I will. The recipe bears repeating.

The Chocolate Mousse was also from Fine Cooking and although quite tasty probably will not be a repeat. The Tuille Cookies were too sweet and too thick. I think we need a new recipe.

The night's entertainment beyond lively conversation and good food was of course -- The Amazing Race! You'll be happy to know that my team... is still in the running, but just by the skin on their respective noses. Keep your fingers crossed.