Sorry for getting here late, today. Just been busy and out of the house most of the day.
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Okay. So, how did my birthday dinner go? I chose the Mango and Bell Pepper Salad, the Grape Pickers' Skillet with Chicken and the
Churros with Hot Chocolate and my ratings for them would be two nines and a seven. Here's a review of each one.
Mango and Bell Pepper Salad:This was very tasty and I enjoyed it very much. With the natures of the flavours of the different bell peppers, I think the green was almost too much, and that red, orange and yellow would have been a better balance. Then, again, I also wonder how it would be with the original selection of peppers, but with all of them roasted. Yes, I would make it again, but I would probably experiment with a few adjustments, as you can tell.
Grape Pickers' Skillet with Chicken:In the earlier recipe thread, I already detailed the VOLUME of food this made. Yes, all of my measurements were the amounts specified in the recipe
as it was posted. In addition, I acknowledge that the posted recipe DID say an eight-inch, cast-iron skillet, but the only way I could imagine that those two pounds of thinly sliced potatoes ever could have fit into that eight-inch skillet is if there is THAT big of a difference in
density between the Yukon gold potatoes listed in the recipe and the white potatoes we have here. In other words, the Yukon gold potatoes would have had to have taken up a lot less space for their weight in order for an eight-inch pan to have worked. It will be interesting to hear everyone else's experiences with this, but I will say that my Lodge, 11-3/4-inch grill pan was JUST the right size, and worked beautifully. Also, as has already been mentioned before, the cooking time specified in the recipe was exactly right and everything was perfectly done at the end of the second half-hour period.
So, how did it taste? WONDERFULLY! Absolutely the only reason I gave this a nine instead of a ten is that I went ahead with the specified amount of cheese and, considering how much more spread out this was, versus how an eight-inch pan would have been, the amount of cheese probably should have been doubled. In fact, in the picture, you'll see the extra cheese I melted on top of that leftover slice. One other change: a full pound of bacon JUST managed to cover the bottom of the pan and the top of the preparation completely, when the respective ends were carefully moved into place and that is something else that, otherwise, would have been fine in the eight-inch skillet
There's no doubt that I shall make this again - with twice the cheese and a full pound of bacon.
Churros with Hot Chocolate:Since I can go only about a mile from me and get freshly made, real Latin-American
churros, these didn't impress me that much, but I wouldn't consider them a total failure by any stretch. The dough was actually the perfect consistency, but it just wasn't quite as sweet as what they would sell here - not a BIG difference, but very noticeable. The other problem was that the sugar mixture just would not stick to the
churros, even if I put them into the mixture immediately out of the fryer.
A separate problem - though not the fault of the recipe - had to do with the piping. I had a brand-new, never-used Ateco 16-inch polyurethane decorating bag, model 3316, and when I started to roll it up in order to move the dough toward the tip, the lettering of the brand and model number on the front of the bag just flaked off in my hands like so much old house paint. Then, when I finally had it ready for the frying, the entire seam split and the metal tip fell into the frying oil. Thus, in order to finish making the
churros, I had to transfer the dough to a zipper bag, snip the corner and pipe the dough into the oil that way. That did work very well, but the lack of the star tip made for ridge-less
churros and THAT may have contributed to the problems with the sugar mixture (although it just wasn't sticking, at all, so I doubt it would have been THAT much of a difference).
Since I couldn't afford the brandy for the hot chocolate and also still had some of my own cocoa powder from the cacao seeds that I had dried and roasted for myself, I just made some of that chocolate, instead.
So, thank you, everyone, for allowing me to select a meal to review. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did.
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We all agreed that cucumber would be good - and for those of us who are fans, avocado. That salad was a huge hit.
Now for the Grape Pickers' Skillet....
Jean I like the idea of the egg on it for breakfast!!!
Although I would not like cucumber in that salad, I could understand it. Also, although I WOULD like avocado with it, I would probably consider some papaya, instead.
I though about putting an egg onto a slice of the "skillet," too, but had to keep careful count of the eggs I was using, since some had already been allotted to other things (e.g. eight of them for the cheesecake I just made for some friends). The next time I make the "skillet" (and there WILL be a next time), I'll certainly use some eggs on some of it.