r/whatsfordinner

Posting some old creations, I used to post them on my Instagram account somewhere along the way and I just stopped posting my food creations there.

But anyways, I got Japanese curry pods at the local supermarket here and thought why not give it a shot. Would highly recommend.

Especially if you wanna batch Cook.

Got this recipe from One Pan, Two Plates by Carla Snyder. I'm cooking my way through the entire book. This is recipe 61 of 76. Super proud of how it turned out. Only 15 to go!

Pretty easy to make and so delicious!!

I have American Bresse chickens here in Texas. I had too many roosters in a recent group of chicks. I let them grow out to about six months old so their genetics could become more apparent and I could decide who to keep. I finished two roosters for 3 weeks on oats, milk, and a splash of cream 2x/day. I harvested four roosters. I prepared coq au vin using two legs from finished and two legs from unfinished roosters so I could compare. The finishing was worth it but both were certainly palatable.

In rough terms (I’m not a recipe guy):
Marinate 4 chicken quarters for 24 hours in 125ml burgundy wine (i used ‘22 drouhin bourgogne), 8 garlic cloves, several bay leaves, some thyme, a celery stalk and a carrot per quarter, diced roughly.

Remove meat from bag, strain and retain liquid. Discard veg remnants. (I composted them). Pat meat dry then salt the skin.

Enameled stock pot on med-low heat; Oven to 300F
Brown about 1/2lb pancetta, then remove
Sear 4 chicken quarters in the pork fat
Remove quarters.
Mirepoix, I did this one veg at a time- brown three white onions diced finely, diced carrots, and diced celery. I added some olive oil because it seemed too dry.
Add ~3 tbsp tomato paste. Cook for a few min.
Deglaze. French grandmas use cognac; I had knob creek rye whiskey on hand so used that - about 4 tbsp.
Add about 300 ml stock. I used some very dark brown, highly aromatic chicken stock made from the same birds’ backs a few days ago. Excellent.
Add remaining wine and marinade liquid, save off about 75 ml wine in case you need to tweak sauce (I didn’t need to).
Reduce by a third or half, cooking off alcohol.
Place chicken on top, skin above liquid line (should be fine based on volumes). Into the oven for 3ish hours. Younger birds (or commercial) are much faster, I think.
30 min before the end, brown some mushrooms and shallots for garnish. I also cooked some small yellow potatoes, halved, in butter, garlic, and spare thyme during this window.
Remove braise from the oven. Set chicken aside. Strain liquid from the pot and use it to make a sauce. I had to reduce by about 20% then took off heat and mounted cold butter cubes to smooth it out. Maybe half a stick.
Warm plate-> potatoes, chicken on top, shallot and mushroom scattered, liberally pour of sauce. So good. Didn’t even get any pictures of how dark the meat was.

Could have looked fancier but we’re rustic and so was this plate.

Taters, Kraut, Sausage & Onions

Ingredients:

3 medium potatoes, halved and sliced 1/4 inch thick.

1 large onion, coarsely diced.

4-5 hot dog-sized smoked sausage links, cut diagonally in 1/4 inch thick pieces.

2-3 cups sauerkraut, drained and reserve about 1/2 cup of the brine.

Olive & Canola oil

Salt & pepper

In a large skillet that you have a tight lid for, add 2 tablespoons each of Olive and Canola Oil.

Put the skillet on medium high heat uncovered until the oils shimmer.

Add potatoes. Sprinkle with salt & pepper. Let cook until almost thoroughly browned, add onions and continue to cook uncovered until onions become translucent and start to brown. Add sausage and cook until it browns.

Add drained sauerkraut and stir. Let the kraut cook for about 7-8 minutes.

Add the 1/2 cup of kraut brine and put heat down to low.

Cover with Lid and let steam for about 10 minutes. Let cool and serve.

1. Beef Patties

2. Oxtail Stew, Mashed Potatoes, Steamed Cabbage & Spicy Oxtail Gravy

3. Curry Chicken

4. Jerk Lamb Chops

5. Jerk Chicken

6. Jerk Wings

7. Caribbean Sunday Roast Chicken Dinner & Jerk Gravy

Pesto is homemade but the pasta is store bought.