Smoked a meatloaf yesterday. Mashed potatoes and slaw
12 Likes
Spent part of the morning at my moms condo donating furniture and anything else wanted to a church group. Got rid of some furniture. Still a lot left to donate. They have more people in need
Picked up a chicken from the market and with some time on my hand (rainy day) decided to do a chicken ballotine for dinner. Had to watch and rewatch Jacques Pepin’s video to refresh my memory on technique. He makes it looks so easy. It’s not hard but there is a definite method to the madness
12 Likes
Dismantling a loved ones home hits you on many levels. Keeping you in my thoughts.
A kitchen project that requires your concentration is a good way to decompress!
5 Likes
More interesting than usual salad- the last of that jar of cornichons (i think i made it last an entire 48hrs!), more radishes- they’re very spicy! Olives , cucumber, cilantro, and some random corn black bean salad thing.
Trying to stay away from the chips this week! Pretzel fishies a la carte with kombucha
10 Likes
OMG, yes
Green coconut chutney chicken tenders, pole beans, and grilled eggplant and red peppers with dilled yogurt sauce. A little brown basmati rice on the side.
8 Likes
Yum! What was inside besides the ribs?
Something on my to make list a while. Should be very tender, right?
Very easy to eat. The only problem was the white meat was a bit dry for my taste. Doing it again I might try to shield the breast area with foil to slow the cooking
Wait, chicken ballotine is usually simmered in a broth, right? Maybe brown it at the end of the cooking if you want it to look more appetising.
Just had to look it up on Wikipedia. Roasting, braising or poaching. Maybe braising is a more classic technique
Mine was roasted
1 Like
Ah ok! 
Here, when you show a ballotine, it has a high chance that it is cooked poaching, I guess it’s the trend here with low temperature cooking. But you are right that it can be cooked braising or roasting.
Mrs. P made rabbit browned in olive oil with red and white onions, garlic, shallots, white wine, mustard, chicken broth, salt and pepper with fresh shaved orange rind on top 
She also made an excellent side dish of roasted fennel, leeks, red and white onions, sugar snap peas, sweet peas, sautéed in olive oil with salt and pepper. I think @Ttrockwood would like those roasted vegetables. They were delicious.
15 Likes
Did you roast it breast side down? You could also try a dry brine, maybe.
I went easy-peasy for dinner tonight after 2 days of month-end invoicing. And I’m still not done.
BJ’s Mandarin Orange Chicken, with the sauce being augmented with orange juice, hoisin sauce, a store-bought apricot dipping sauce (that I can’t remember where I bought it), and a healthy dose of freshly grated ginger.
Served on top of Basmati rice with peas. And despite it being Tuesday, I had a glass of wine.
Season finale of “This Is Us” shall be my main TV viewage tonight.
10 Likes
That looks fabulous. You are a lucky hubby!
3 Likes
Grill night: turkey Italian sausage, peppers, onions, and Patsy’s marinara. A green salad with grilled asparagus, cucumber, and tomato in LindaWhit’s maple-balsamic vinaigrette.
Forgot photos of dinner, but I did manage to get one of dessert:
13 Likes
Glad you have your priorities in order 
3 Likes
That, and the bubble bath, and I was good to go.
4 Likes
Breast down would be good for the meat but not for the skin.
What do you think of this? I’ve never tried it. Cook the neked meat SV then make crispy skin tuiles by scraping out the fat and baking the skin high heat between 2 parchment sheets and baking pans to make crispy thin tuile treats. I have done skin this way before using thighs. The skins were remarkable
