Chicken Piccata, by Steph

So I'm really late in posting this, because I actually prepared this meal on Nov. 22nd. But better late than never, right? By this point I was getting a little sick of capers - this was the third meal I had used them in during the month of November, and they weren't all that delicious to begin with. But it was Andrew's first time eating them, and he loved it. Once again, the method of preparation - pounding the chicken breasts to an even thickness, coating with flour, and pan frying - was a keeper. The sauce of capers and lemon juice, not so much.


As you can see, we had a very well-rounded meal that night. Chicken ONLY. No vegetables, no salad, no carbs - only chicken. What a great chef I am. I blame it on my rushing out the door to go to Young Women's. Who has time for a side salad when mutual is waiting?

Fish en Papillote by Steph

I love fish. But I never love it as much when I'm the one who cooks it. I don't know what it is about home-cooked fish, but it's NEVER as good. This time, unfortuantely, was no exception. I used some frozen Pacific cod I had and it turned out...a little blah. But the method of cooking is brilliant and I'll definitely use that again. Just not for fish. :) It was really nice to wrap up an entire meal in parchment, throw it in the oven, and be done with it. Vegetables, meat, sauce, and all. My kind of meal. Since this was the first Martha meal I've cooked since Andrew came home, I abused the privilege of being in the pictures. Sorry. Next time it will be strictly photographs of food. Well, maybe...

Pork Braised in Cider--Linds

I think I'm going to be a loner on this meal for this week, and that's ok :). Kim is somewhat MIA on this blog, and Steph has a newly returned husband to attend to; I alone will represent our Martha meal for the week :). Wooh it was a doozy! talking to steph about it earlier this week she said "it looks like a ton of work" and I had quickly scanned through it and didn't realize how bad it would be. but she was right, it was a lot of work. And i didn't even make the little sachet thing because I didn't want to buy cheese cloth, twine, and fresh stuff. Believe me, it wasn't necessary.


I was a little worried after I bought my pork (only 2 pounds because that was the largest cut they had, as oppose to the 3 pounds martha called for) since it looked different than the pictures in the book. mine was like big and flat. The books' pork was like a mound, but it was fine anyway. I also bought a bottle of Martinelli's Sparkling Apple Cider to braise the pork in. That is the non-alcoholic version of this meal. I was bummed that the recipe ended up using the whole darn bottle and I didn't even get any left to drink.



Let the record show that this was my first time seeing, buying, cooking with, or eating parsnips AND leeks. So that was cool. I am really not a huge fan of either, but I didn't dislike them either. Just more mediocre-tasting vegetables to add to the list. OH and the recipe called for celery root, and I didn't want to buy any. For $4.98 a pound for some freaky looking things, I didn't think it was worth it. I used regular celery. I hope no one is laughing at me for doing that because I have no idea how it compares. Maybe celery and celery roots are in fact nothing alike at all, and I now look retarded for thinking one could replace the other. Hopefully that's not the case, but knowing my luck, it is. :)



I didn't cook the meat or the veggies for as long as it said to because we were so impatient to eat and it was taking so darn long. So I think the meat could have been a little more tender, and the vegetables too, but all in all it was good. Kenny really liked it, which to me makes the whole meal worth it. I don't care how long it takes when Kenny keeps going "mmm... mmm..." with every bite haha.



For all the steps in this I sure didn't do a good job photographing it all. But I did get a shot of the final product, minus the sauce which was off to the side in a very unattractive, glass measuring cup.


Would I ever do this again? Probably not. But it was certainly a good learning experience, and isn't that what this is all about?! Here's to learning.
By the way, does anybody know what the purpose of boiling the sauce from one cups down to 2 cups would be? Why can't we just pour out the extra cup of sauce instead of boil it into oblivion? Does it make a more concentrated taste? I have just never done that before and thought it was interesting...

Pan-Roasted Chicken, by Linds

I'm a little frustrated because I just typed up this whole thing and posted it and my internet cord had come loose and anyway it lost the whole thing. So I'm going to summarize and re-do it.

I really loved this method of cooking chicken, it's just like what you do to grill it. Sear it on both sides to lock in the moisture and then cook it through. I don't think my pan was quite hot enough when I put the chicken on initially. So I will do that better next time, but it was still really good. I will definitely cook chicken like this again. But I'll use different vegetables next time. I don't care for grape tomatoes or olives, really. So after one of each i gave the rest of mine to Kenny :). We didn't have capers either.

I told Kenny when I put the chicken in the oven, still in the skillet, that in 15 min. I would need some serious supervision so we didn't have a repeat of last time. But thankfully there were no burns for this meal, and it turned out great. Martha meal for this week was a definite keeper.

Pan-Roasted Chicken by Steph

Finally - a Martha success in my own kitchen! In fact, I just may cook chicken this way from now on - it was perfect and juicy and tender.
I was excited to try this recipe because I don't normally like olives and I've never had capers. I knew it had the potential of being gross, but I was glad to be branching out a little. I had my friend Marelize over (an olive connoiseur) for dinner to give me extra incentive.
The recipe calls for boneless, skin-on chicken breasts; turns out there's no such thing. I figured Martha wouldn't make it easy, but I wasn't about to buy a whole chicken and debone it myself just to get the extra fat from the skin. So I ventured to use boneless, skinless, and it was still perfect.
The recipe was really easy: capers, kalamata olives, and plum tomatoes tossed in olive oil; chicken salted and peppered, then browned on the stovetop; put it all together, throw it in the oven on REALLY high heat for 15 minutes, and it's done.
Linds, make sure not to grab the handle this time. I hit my elbow on the end of the handle a few minutes after taking it out of the oven; it felt like someone stabbed me, and it burned me pretty good just in that one millisecond. These ovenproof skillets are not messing around.
I think this is a meal Andrew would LOVE. I will definitely be making this again.