November Date Night In: Preparations

It’s thaaaaaaaat time again folks. Date Night In is once again upon us. When Roy and I were looking at possible evenings to have our DNI this month I was assuming we would aim for mid-month. Owen’s birthday party is this Sunday and I have a ton of food to prep for that. But Roy mentioned tonight (the 3^rd) as a possibility and I was quickly won over. We have little patience when it comes to good food. Plus, who can say no to this month’s menu?

“Wooed by Fried Chicken”

                -Basil Mint Jubilee

                -Fried Chicken Sandwiches on Black Pepper Biscuits

                -Pickled Vegetable Salad

…wait for it…

                -Chocolate Pecan Ice Cream Pie with Bourbon Butterscotch and Pretzel Crust

After we saw the dessert all other options were immediately set aside.

New-to-me ingredients to purchase/use:

·         Fresh mint

·         Fresh beets

·         Goat cheese (Had it at restaurants—SUPER excited to have an excuse to buy some.)

·         Marjoram

·         Grainy mustard

I’ve prepped a lot of components for tonight and, to be candid, there are things that already haven’t gone perfectly, or that I’m kind of nervous about. I’ve had to try several new-to-me kitchen techniques.

Like…pickling vegetables. I assume this will taste OK, but I’ve never pickled anything and the process didn’t exactly endear itself to me. I think this is one of those things that the author really loves and finds lots of excuses to justify pickling veggies. If it does turn out to be amazing, the mandoline on my Amazon wish list will probably get bumped up a few spots.

I had to brown butter for the pie crust. I’ve never done that before either—it was brown when I poured it in (good sign, right??), but she says you know it’s done when you see golden solids at the bottom of the pan and it smells “nutty.” I wasn’t sure about either of those indicators when I did it, but I assume the crust will taste OK with regular OR browned butter.

The biscuits are enormous and the corner that “fell off” tasted incredible. It should. It’s basically heavy cream, butter, flour, and leavening agents. I forgot to add the freshly-cracked pepper until after the dough had already come together so there’s a little in three biscuits and a sneeze-worthy amount in #4. I didn’t want to overwork the dough for the sake of the pepper. Hopefully that was the right choice?

Also, I think my Ninja is dying. I pulsed the biscuit ingredients together and it made a sound so horrible that even Owen started crying. (This is the kid who chases the vacuum around because he loves the noise so much.) I will be super sad if the Ninja dies. I have a much bigger, more professional food processor from our wedding, and part of me sees it becoming a regular part of my kitchen, but the Ninja is much smaller and easier to clean and store. (I’ve convinced myself. Consults wish list and adds new Ninja…)

But the technique that absolutely freaks me out is the actual frying of the chicken. Ashley says to do it in a skillet, which I have, with oil that I have. She is very clear about temps and time, but I’m still confused. If I heat up a bunch of oil to 360°, how can I keep it at a constant temperature? Or is it OK if it continues to rise once it's in there? I wondered about using my griddle instead—it has a temperature gauge on the side so maybe it could regulate itself? But that thing is massive—it would take twice as much oil to get it deep enough, and I’m only frying four chicken thighs.

Sigh.

The few times I’ve pan-fried anything I haven’t really loved eating it either. There’s something about witnessing the process that makes it less enjoyable. I can eat fried food from restaurants usually with no problem, but when I do it myself it doesn’t go down as easily.

So this should be interesting! I think tonight’s menu is loaded with potential for big-time success and also big-time disappointment. It will be fun to travel through it with Roy and experience it together. These nights are such fun for us to plan and execute. I’m thankful for his encouragement and sense of humor about the whole thing. (And his iPhone, which takes pretty decent photos of our results!)

Today’s 1%: Another 3 miles on the shoe-odometer today. I’ve run ten miles in the past 4 days (including a day off on Sunday). This week’s weather is shaping up to be phenomenal, so maybe I’ll get another 10 in before the weekend. Glorious!