This is not a shocker if you’ve been reading along, but I’ll keep the book on the shelf. The three recipes were genuinely good and unfussy versions of some classic preparations.
I’m not a huge fan of gazpacho and vichyssoise most of the time. They’ve got to be refreshing, light, but also to have strong flavors—a washed-out cold soup tastes like dishwater or worse. Worthington’s gazpacho is a simple cucumber-avocado-sour cream mix with a bit of tomatillo salsa in it (a smart touch)—I substituted garlic scapes (because I have a bunch that need using up) for the scallions and chives and I used my own chicken stock that I have in the freezer. It worked very nicely and was a fast and easy prep.
Every time I cook a recipe that calls for chicken pieces, I’m always kicking myself for the times I buy chicken pre-cut at a supermarket. Cutting up a whole chicken is really a simple thing. Frankly even making boneless breasts is simple as hell. Thighs are a bit more complicated but not that much. Etc.
The orange-hoisin chicken was a really simple prep: a marinade of hoisin, orange marmalade, soy sauce, sesame oil, and chili paste, thrown into the oven at high heat for about an hour in the marinade. I like that kind of recipe, where the marinade can serve as the quick pan sauce and where it doesn’t need a long marination (this one is 30 minutes to 2 hours max). It was a close race between getting the skin brown enough and drying out, but that’s the other point of a marinade with something like chicken. I might next time lower the heat slightly and then broil it in the last 2-3 minutes. But in any event, the result was good. The only slight prep annoyance that’s all on me is that she calls for orange slices as garnish and I felt obligated to supreme the orange, which is a nuisance.
The pilaf was also great. The peanuts were a clever touch.
Overall, it was a really easy meal to put together and the outcome was great—like any home cook, I have to balance some not-entirely-compatible tastes when I have all my people here at home and this hit the spot for everybody. I think that earns the book a continuing place on the shelf.
Everybody else agreed!
VERDICT: The cookbook stays on the shelf. California cooking stays with the California boy.
Yeah, this looks really good!