28 December 2007

Brandied-Bacony Chicken

Shane got me Nigella Lawson's new book, Nigella Express, for Christmas. She loves roasted chicken and so do I! I'm not a very good cook, as evidenced by the debacle that occurred while trying to cook her Brandied-Bacony Chicken. I cooked it for 45 minutes at 425 degrees just as she instructed, but the legs were pink. So I cooked it for another 15 minutes. Then I used the themometer, which said that poiltry should be at 185 degrees. But the themometer only said 140 degrees. So I once again put it in the oven. But it started splattering juices, which made a scary hissing noise (we have a gas oven.) So I turned the oven off and told Shane I give up! Just then, the smoke alarm went off. So we opened all the windows and aired the place out. In the end Shane said it was juicy and it looked pretty yummy. Although, the picture below is the first time I took it out of the oven and it ended up being more golden. It actually looks kinda underdone doesn't it?



I also made her mushroom au gratin. It has a lot of liquid on the bottom, but that's probably my fault since I forgot to cook the mushroom seperately and just added everything together. Did I mention that I'm not a great cook?

3 comments:

Joanna said...

the big question is, was it good?

Unknown said...

yes, it was actually good! it really was juicy and the skin was to die for. even though the au gratin was too juicy, it had a good mushroomy flavor. i was surprised shane liked it since he only started eating mushrooms a year or two ago.

i think if i am more consistent about cooking, i would actually get better. my problem is that i have these long periods that i don't cook and it seems i forget everything i once knew.

Kainoa said...

I think you did a great job Marie! Yes, whole poultry is kind of hard at first but there are so many ways you can make it, once you learn it is hard to screw up. The picture looks yummy! Mine looked under done the first time I cooked one, but I learned, as you will too. The more you do it the better you will get. Do you like the cookbook, because I am always looking for new cookbooks to add to my collection?! I think I will have to try the mushroom au gratin, I love potatoes and mushrooms!!!