I actually started out with a new baking recipe, Ina's Mini Orange and Chocolate Chunk Cakes, which turned out fabulous. I zested and juiced two and a half oranges to give me 1/8 cup of zest and 1/4 cup of juice. While I did that, my Kitchen Aid stand mixer creamed butter and sugar together, followed by 2 eggs and then the zest. In one bowl, I sifted flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and in the other, I mixed together buttermilk, vanilla, and OJ. The flour and buttermilk mixtures were then alternately added to the creamed butter in thirds. Finally, I stirred in a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips tossed with flour and then poured them into my new Chicago Metallic baking pan. It had 6 individual molds (just basic, nothing fancy) with removable bottoms--very cool! They baked for 30 minutes at 350 degrees and were perfectly done when I took them out. After they cooled for about 10 minutes, I drizzled them with a mixture of orange juice and sugar, which had been dissolved together over heat. The cakes absorbed most of the glaze and heightened the orange-y flavor. I cheated for the second round of OJ and used Tropicana instead of squeezing more oranges. Too much work. Eventually I added a ganache of chocolate chips, heavy cream, and espresso powder. L liked them. He actually had one before I put the ganache on.
While the cakes baked, I got to work on the chicken. I got to use another new toy, a Kitchen Aid roasting pan, which turned out to be a whole lot nicer and roomier than I originally thought. It's no All-Clad, but it will do for now. It's certainly better than what I was using before, that's for sure. I was smarter this time and put on yellow kitchen gloves underneath the latex ones. The chicken felt a whole lot less icky this time, as I couldn't feel it as well. Jim removed what we think were the giblets, and then I took over. I managed to tuck the wings underneath her with much fewer problems than last time. For whatever reason, she was a lot more flexible. Maybe she wasn't quite so panicky when they chopped her head off, so she wasn't all tense like the other one. She was smaller, 4.4 pounds, and an organic, free-range one from Trader Joe's. She was over $2 a pound, but I've decided to try feeding Jim healthier chickens on a more regular basis. All those hormones and other crap in the cheaper ones can't be all that good for him. Plus the happier ones have got to taste better, right? Anyway, I stuffed her butt with lemon halves, garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper. Because this was my second time through, I was a lot more prepared. I cut up the lemons and garlic before working with her, and I had a bowl of salt and pepper all ready to use, so there was a lot less removing of the gloves and general clumsiness. After seeing the carved up product last time, I realized that the salt placed inside the cavity doesn't really get eaten, because it's all bones that I'm seasoning, so I was a lot more liberal this round. The outside was rubbed with melted butter, salt, and pepper and then layered with bacon. I successfully tied the legs together on the second attempt. I was definitely a lot less squeamish this time because I couldn't feel the bird as well, so that helped a lot. I am a frickin' genius for thinking of the dual layers. Double protection may not work for condoms, but it sure does when it comes to protecting me from cold, slimy Chickie. I scattered more cut up lemons and garlic and then roasted her at 425 for an hour. After an hour, I removed the bacon and then in she went until her internal temp was 165, which turned out to be about another half hour.
While Chickie was cooking, I started in on my biscuits. First, I sifted the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and then added some cut up butter. I took more time blending the butter into the flour until I had a nice cornmeal-like consistency, as per Bobby's instructions on the show. I added one cup of buttermilk and worked it into the dough. It still felt kind of dry, but then I added some fat-free half and half until it was nice and moist and sticky. I covered it with Saran wrap and popped it in the fridge to chill until I was ready to work it out. When I took out the dough, it was so much easier to work with and I barely had to do anything to pat it out and cut out 2 1/2 inch biscuits (with an actual cookie cutter this time). It made 10 of them, and I placed them on a Silpat and brushed 'em with heavy cream. They baked at 350 for about 20 minutes, along with the leftover sweet potatoes.
Chickie was placed on a tray and tented with foil while I made a quick pan gravy. I drained the majority of the drippings out of the pan into a plastic container and then heated the remainder with wine and chicken broth until it reduced by about half. I poured it into my little creamer from Williams-Sonoma, which may be one of the best purchases I've ever made. I can put syrup, gravy, and cream into the sucker, and it's so cute!
My biscuits were way better this round. They were tender and flaky and I even ate two of them, one without honey. I didn't think it really needed the honey, although it was a nice touch. They were definitely moister this time, because I didn't overbake them like I think I may have last time. Jim agreed that they were better. I was so proud of myself!!
The sweet potatoes were pretty good leftover. After heating them up in the oven, I couldn't really tell that they were made yesterday. They had a nice kick and I strangely enjoyed them. It's certainly not a flavor I'm used to, but it was definitely good stuff.
Jim said the chicken was really good and that the flavors were better this time. Yay! He later said he loved roasted chicken. If it weren't for the long cooking time, i would probably make it pretty regularly. It's definitely not a lot of prep work, but it does take time to clean up afterwards with all the disinfecting and throwing away of the carcass, plus the carving time and the resting time. You're talking about 2 1/2 hours needed, which really doesn't exist during the week, save for Friday, which we usually go out on.
My orange cakes were quite yummy. I didn't think they were too rich, actually, although they certainly weren't going to win any health awards. The chocolate-orange combination is nice. It's not my favorite pairing, but it's definitely good stuff. The ganache was good and went well with the cake. It had a slightly dense texture, although it wasn't chewy or tough, and plenty of moisture. I was happy with the results and would definitely make them again.
Overall, dinner was a success from my standpoint. Jim ate most of the chicken. L had a small helping of everything. Now that he's single again, he came by to hang out and play with his jet ski. I do enjoy spending time with him, and it's been a while since Jim and I had a night in, so it was a good evening. Well, I guess technically we did last weekend, but I was so exhausted, it wasn't very fun. We ended up watching Beowulf, which was kind of an odd movie and nothing like the book (from what I can remember of it).
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