As some of you know, I’ve been participating in the Outside the Box Challenge, which has encouraged me to make new things, use new ingredients, change my workout and think more about what I eat. This week’s challenge was to use an herb you haven’t for a while and report on how it went. I made three different recipes using fresh tarragon (I always never use fresh herbs), and thought I’d share my favorite.
(I know it looks blurry, there was a lot of steam)
The best things about this recipe for Chicken Tarragon from AllRecipes:
- 10 ingredients, 9 of which I didn’t need to go to the store for
- 35 minutes
- 1 skillet, 1 baking dish, knives, and couple cutting boards are all the dishes you need.
I love dishes where you throw everything in the oven and it all cooks together. I’m not even sure it was necessary to brown the chicken (confession: I used turkey breast–it’s what I had!)…mine didn’t really brown and it still tasted good. Plus, we’re getting 2 meals worth of vegetables out of the recipe. I’ll probably try it out again, perhaps using different vegetables and herbs to see what I can create. If you’re looking for an easy dinner, I’d definitely check out the recipe.
Side note: there wasn’t any grain in this recipe, so I decided to make another side. Brian suggested I use up the container of Israeli couscous that’s been sitting in our pantry forever. I decided to attempt a cheaper, less fresh, version of Giada’s Mediterrean Salad, which is still one of my favorite things. I prepared a dressing of lemon juice, dried basil, pressed garlic and salt, poured it over the cooked couscous and added a handful of dried cranberries. Despite missing the fresh basil and lacking mint and almonds entirely, the pasta tasted amazingly similar to the original dish. Now we need to get more Israeli couscous so I can eat this all the time!
I feel the need to explain what feels to me like the recent influx of Rachael Ray recipe reviews on this blog. Before I moved, I cut up over a year’s worth of Everyday with Rachael Ray magazines and filed the recipes I actually wanted to make in my recipe binder. Now the majority of the recipes in my binder are from Rachael. Though after last night, I’m less enthused about trying them.
Last night’s pick (because I have to keep my Man happy by serving meat once in a while…oh, and I like meat, too) was a 5 ingredient recipe for Coconut Curry Chicken. We both like coconut and curry, it sounded simple enough and so I opted to give it a try. It wasn’t difficult to make, and it looked pretty:
The taste, however, was lacking. By which I mean, it didn’t really have any taste. I know, it seems odd to say that a curry dish could have no taste, but my Man will back me up on this. It’s not that it was bad, per se, it just wasn’t good. It didn’t taste like curry. It didn’t taste like coconut. The recipe has 5 rave reviews, so either they’re crazy or I did something wrong (and despite a recent series of kitchen mistakes on my part, I think I made this one correctly).
We’ll be eating it again tonight, because there are still two servings left, but I don’t think I’ll be making this recipe again. Definitely going to search for a relatively simple, delicious curry recipe for the future.
Menu: Rachael Ray’s Sesame and Herbes de Provence Chicken Tenders — Quick Barley — Salad
Recipe review: Before writing my own recipe review, before even cooking a recipe, I should probably read the comments and reviews posted on the Food Network recipe page. But I’m not that smart (or I’m too trusting of Rachael, or too disinterested in other people’s opinions…take your pick). Anyway, I knew as soon as I tasted the chicken that it was really salty. Surprise! Guess what the complaint of the majority of the 67 reviewers who over all gave the recipe only 2 stars was? Too much salt!
That said, it did turn out to be edible, especially with the shallot and sherry vinegar dressing. It was an easy recipe to create, I bought the herbes de provence in the bulk foods section of my local co-op, so I ended up with only as much as I needed (21 cents worth!). I’d make it again, but tweak the coating (probably just leave out the salt; the herbes/sesame seeds/minced onion seemed like a decent combination to me). Also, the chicken didn’t brown up much since it was baked in the oven; I’ll probably try cooking in in a little oil or something in a pan next time.
The quick barley was origially purchased because I couldn’t find pearled barley at my wonderful supermarket for my soup last week. Barley is another one of those things we don’t eat in my house. It turned out to be really, really good. I expect barley will be making more menu appearances in the future, which makes me happy.
In summary, I’d make it again, but it wasn’t the most amazing thing ever, and the coating needs some serious tweaking. But yay for barley (impending taste test: is pearled barley much better than quick barley?)
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(I know it looks blurry, there was a lot of steam)
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