on an ethnic kick

I didn't plan it this way, but this week I've made three recipes out of CI's massive Best International cookbook. As usual, I drew up my meal plan Monday morning, was happy with it, and then circumstances forced a change: I realized I would be about 3 miles from the Dekalb Farmer's Market on Tuesday while running an errand. Scratch original plan. Draw up new one that includes lots more produce and a Bell & Evans chicken.

First up was poulet en cocotte. I seem to be cursed when it comes to cooking whole chickens. Out of the three times I've tried roasting a whole bird, each time using what I thought was a trustworthy recipe, things haven't gone so well. This, the third time, was probably the best attempt, though by no means ideal. I was attracted to the ease of a French method of cooking the bird in a covered Dutch oven. It was indeed very easy to prep it and stick it in the oven for an hour, but as usual, it took longer than it should have (though my oven seems to be calibrated fine), and when the breasts were finally done the legs and thighs were nowhere near it, so I had to sort of poach them in the sauce. Frustrating, but we did get some pretty good tasting chicken out of it, after a while. I made braised leeks and a salad with it.

Last night I went out on a limb---and fell off. Vietnamese rice noodle salad, or "bun" as it's called in that strangest of strange languages, looked great on paper.  Actually, if I had read the sauce ingredients more closely (lime juice, water, and 2/3 cup fish sauce!?!?), I might have had different sentiments. But I got the precise mixture of fresh herbs that were supposed to "make" this salad (mint, basil, and cilantro), and the only change, which I admit was consequential, was to substitute some leftover chicken for the pork tenderloin. The watery-ness, not to mention the fishy-ness, of the sauce together with the way it just pooled at the bottom of the noodles like a stagnant pond...not a repeat dish. It looked pretty, at least, and thankfully I halved the recipe and only had a small bowl of leftovers for a lunch. And, while I'm playing Pollyanna, we have lots of basil and mint left. And I didn't spend a ton of money on the pork. Okay, I'm done.

Here's to better luck tonight with...ham and swiss sandwiches, and pears. :)

OH, I made vanilla frozen yogurt today from Lebovitz's book. That was most definitely a success, and took about 3 minutes of measuring and then the ice cream maker did its thing. I am loving that machine.