Honey and Lemon Roasted Chicken with Savory Cherry Compote
The chicken was great! I didn't taste much lemon or honey in the end, but it was perfectly moist and the skin looked awesome. I don't have a proper roasting rack, so unfortunately I lost a lot of the breast skin when I flipped it over as instructed since it had stuck to the bottom of my glass pan (hence the nontraditional chicken picture to the right). I used rosemary in the cavity of the chicken rather than the instructed thyme because a) I had rosemary on hand and b) I don't like thyme. This was the first time I trussed a chicken! I successfully managed to avoid getting salmonella all over my computer while trying to watch and pause and watch and pause a how-to video while tying the chicken.
The compote paired well and I did like it, although I'm not so sure about the texture of the walnuts compared with the much softer cooked down cherries and the syrup. I'm not sure I'd make it again.
Steamed Asparagus
The ehow instructions for steaming asparagus were new to me and actually pretty fun! They steamed perfectly and I served it with a little lemon juice and parmesan on top. J said that must be the difference in being from the north versus the south - she cooks her asparagus in butter :) I promised her an all-butter dinner in the near future to make up for it.
Got the asparagus from my favorite produce provider - Bill Pace, or as I call it, "the vegetable store".
Chocolate Cake with Fennel Ice Cream and Strawberries
I'm just beginning to scratch the surface of gluten free cooking, but discovering the Four Chickens blog seems like it will be a huge step in my progress. This chocolate cake was GREAT. Question: why does every cake recipe seem to always provide a ganache recipe that makes way more than you need? I guess because you can never have too much chocolate ganache :)
Orangette is one of my favorite food blogs (and I've fan-girlishly sat right next to Molly at a Q&A once, eeee!) so I was very intrigued by the fennel ice cream. She suggested it would pair well with chocolate and it did! It tasted...too much like fennel seed on its own (if that makes any sense), but it worked very well with the cake.
Overall, a successful dinner and a ton of leftovers since only two others could make it that night. The chicken leftovers microwaved just fine and remained just as moist.
XOXO
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