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Originally Posted by BRPORSCHE
Presentation and plating is the key. I try to watch all the YouTube videos I can find on presentation skills. Also, when carving the bird....try to do it with at least some skill.
What other recipes do you think I could add for a simple date night??
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Before we graduate you from your surefire chicken recipe onto surefire recipe number two, let's work on your menu and presentation.
The next time you make this, use Anthony Bourdain's roast chicken recipe from his Les Halles cookbook. This will accomplish several things. One, the finished chicken, with fresh herbs visible under the skin, will look better. It will also have a more complex flavor. You will also make a simple pan sauce from the drippings. And, you'll cook it ahead of time and serve your guest a finished plate, not try to carve the thing on a Costco cutting board in front of her. She can be seated at the table while you finish plating.
As always, buy a good chicken (air chilled, or equivalent), pay attention to the size (don't buy a 5 pounder) and follow the recipe as carefully as you can. Do not **** with, "improve" or modify his recipe. Truss the bird properly, turn it, baste it, cover the breast with foil if it is getting too done and DO NOT let all of the liquid evaporate out of the roasting pan. Make sure the dark meat is properly done. (You did bring the chicken up to room temperature before cooking it, right?) Study advanced chicken carving and offer the lucky guest a whole breast, or whole leg/thigh quarter. Make the pieces pretty and don't screw up the delicate skin.
When making the sauce, make sure you get rid of the excess fat in the pan first. I usually deglaze the roasting pan and
strain the contents into a sauce pan for making the sauce. Have some good, rich chicken stock on hand if you want to make a larger volume of sauce, or wish to adjust the balance between the lemon, wine and chicken flavors.
Next, you are going to make mashed potatoes. You can make a basic version (potatoes, butter, whole cream, salt, white pepper) or you can make something exotic like what Joël Robuchon would make (equal parts potato and butter, properly seasoned). Use Yukon Golds, boil them whole, drain them, skin them, run them through a ricer or fine food mill, then add gobs of cold, unsalted French butter. If you use cream, simmer and reduce it first. Season with plenty of salt, white pepper to taste, and don't whip the hell out of it and make thick glue. Taste, taste taste until happy.
The green veggie will be haricot vert, cooked like Thomas Keller would suggest. Buy fresh ones, trim them properly and blanch them in plenty of heavily salted water. Shock them in ice water. When ready to finish them, saute some finely minced shallots in butter, warm the beans through and finish with a little chicken stock. They need to be glazed, not wet and runny. The chicken stock needs to be yours, not canned or Rachel Ray in a box. Season, if needed (if you blanch them right, this won't be necessary), add a little butter and swirl off-heat. Taste a few.
This will all be served on nice plates with real knapkins and silverware. You will need a steak knife, as well. Have freshly sliced baguettes on the table (real ones, from a bakery, fresh that day and not stale) with some nice butter, at the correct temperature. I cook with unsalted butter but salted butter goes on the table. French butter again, not American, or God forbid, Irish. The right temperature is halfway between room temp and fridge temp. Serve it on a butter dish.
The wine will be French, white and from Burgundy. Something in the $20-30 range. Serve water also, her choice of still or sparkling. Ice or not, her choice. Lemon, lime or plain, her choice. Do not serve city tap water. Nice glassware. Thin, with a stem, for the wine.
Lastly, you will need a dessert. I'd recommend a bittersweet chocolate souffle, ala Eric Ripert.
I'm sure all of these recipes can be found on the internet, if you don't want to go out and buy the relevant cookbooks (you should buy them, anyway). If you want to guild the lilly, we can talk about a cocktail, some canapes, etc.
DO NOT photograph the finished meal for us before she eats it.
JR