We're back and we're getting serious again. We took the night off two weekends ago for Easter (okay that's a lie...we took the night off for the opening night of the MLB season) and last weekend we only made a side dish.
But this week, we're back and we mean business! What's the business we're dealing in?
Crispy Braised Chicken Thighs with olives, lemon, and fennel (p 30)
Scallion Potato Cakes (p 230)
Brussels Sprouts with Brown Butter and Sage (here)
We also brought in some muscle in the form of the cookbook-gifter herself, Annie! There were three of us in the kitchen and three dishes. We'd split up and each take on a dish and meet at the end of the road with our dinner plates and appetites on the ready.
Hunter took on the Scallion Potato Cakes and christened our new mandolin slicer. The potatoes were peeled, jullienned, and fried into their ultimate glory.
No, I'm not exaggerating. Tell me what the best way to prepare potatoes is. That's right...fried in crispy, delicious cakes.
Annie took on the brussels sprouts. Why didn't we use the brussels sprouts recipe in the Ad Hoc book? Well, we couldn't find Kohlrabi (apparently it's akin to cabbage) so we tried out a different recipe we recently stumbled across.
This was our last hurrah with the brussels sprouts before they go out of season. They started out a brilliant green and became even more vibrant after a quick blanche and swim in an ice bath.
The brown butter sauce was simple and extremely tasty. The recipe yielded twice as much sauce as we needed. I saved the sauce and will be enjoying it with pasta later this week.
The sage was fried up and added atop as the finishing touch.
I took on the chicken thighs, which were unfortunately devoid of their skins. Even so, they browned nicely in the pan.
Next step was to create the braising sauce with a base of garlic, onions, and fennel. Once they were nicely softened, we added some white wine, chicken broth, lemon peels, and green olives. The colors looked great together!
The chicken thighs went back into the fragrant sauce and the dish went into the oven for a nice braise and came out looking and smelling delicious.
Our final presentation:
To finish our meal, we treated ourselves to mini cupcakes from Kumquat Cupcakery, a fantastic vendor at the Brooklyn Flea.
All in all, this was a glorious return back to our Ad Hoc Sundays. drool...
Yuck or Yum:
Crispy Braised Chicken Thighs with olives, lemon, and fennel (p 30): d-"A solid recipe that will definitely be repeated. The chicken was so tender and flavorful...and tasted even better the next day as leftovers." h-"Really tasty, especially the sauce, but I bet I would have loved it more with the skin. Eating chicken thighs with bones was a new experience." a-"Delicious! The chicken was perfectly cooked and flavorful."
Scallion Potato Cakes (p 230): d-"so glad we were able to finally use my new mandolin slicer! a good side, though we probably should have drained them on paper towels after taking them out of the pan."h- "A little oily and I preferred the thicker cakes better. The mandolin slicer really made them the perfect consistency." a-"Nice and crispy, perfect with the chicken."
Brussels Sprouts with Brown Butter and Sage: d-"I love me some brussels sprouts, but I could have done without the fried sage leaves and the butter sauce, though delicious, masked the true delicious flavor of the brussels sprouts." h-"The sauce made these awesome. Perfectly paired with the chicken." a-"Lots of extra sauce, which wasn't a bad thing, because it was so good. I didn't think the fried sage added much, so if I made again I would probably skip it."
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