Hens in my room

Pan-Roasted chicken & French Fries w/ Caesar Salad and Pan Sauce

I do not really have hens in my room. It is most certainly a pun on a song name from Luda's Chicken-n-Beer album from 2003. For those of you that love this era and genre of music, you are most welcome.

This meal was solid. I wasn't expecting much from the fries but parboiling then roasting gave them this really neat texture. Almost like a fried mashed potato. I've had deep fried French fries that taste like that before but never roasted potatoes. Definitely doing that one again.

The dressing was crazy good. Gatherer was not expecting much, was expecting the Natives to complain, was prepared to die on that hill to make them eat something other than Ranch (look I like Ranch, ate my fair share of it, still do on the occasion but it is the ONLY dressing they eat most of the time). I should not have worried. Native2 asked for extra and was stealing what I had set for my fries. Gatherer isn't a huge fan of catchup of any sort, will eat it on a Waffle House order of hash browns but that is about it. The ingredients for the dressing were grated Parmesan, mayo (you know I used my #Dukes), chopped garlic, water, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Just zingy enough to add complexity to a basic salad and made a great dipping sauce for the fries as well.

The chicken, even after cooking an extra minute on each side, was NOT done. I really do trust the recipes over my intuition on the first round of trying. This was a clear cut case of where I should not. Luckily over the years I've learned to slice and re-fire and you can save the recipe. I don't love it but it works. The chicken was okay, just Italian seasoning so nothing fancy. The pan sauce was solid though. The Natives tolerated it but Hunter and Gatherer really enjoyed. I subbed white wine for water and added a little chicken stock concentrate but those are my standards for sauces. I sub red wine if that is what I have open, though I make the exception for citrus sauces and stick to white. If I'm making steak the sauce will get beef stock concentrate and if you ever catch me drinking a white wine with steak hell has frozen over and you can get your bug out bag.

Rated 4 sweet teas

This may have made it to 5 sweet teas or even a full gallon of milos but the need to fix the chicken annoyed me. For real it is the flavor of meals like this that keep me coming back to #MarleySpoon even though I have so many issues with their shipping.