I was pretty proud of the way this meal turned out. I cooked for the parents of my charges as a Christmas gift, delivered the meal to their door, and whisked the kids off for a night of pizza and movies at my house.
I served rosemary roast chicken on a bed of barley bean risotto with roasted, spiced carrots. I also made martinis as an apératif and added a French bâtard and a bottle of wine. For dessert, crème caramel with a dark chocolate triangle.
I was worried that the chicken would be too dry because even though it was less than 4 lbs., I cooked it for over an hour but basted constantly with butter and drippings. I was really happy with the color and crispiness of the skin and was later assured that it was succulent! I also tried something new, separating the chicken skin from the flesh and stuffing fresh rosemary in between before replacing the skin. The way the leaves showed through the skin was really pretty.
I’d really like to experiment more with crème caramel. It wasn’t actually that hard to make but it took several tries to remove it cleanly from the ramekin. I had to eat about two-and-a-half of them that I ruined. Boy, my life sure is tough.
