Killer croutons and more BF Make Ahead

Here is another round of recipes that I have made over the past few weeks from Make It Ahead: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook. Enjoy!

*If the recipe details are not listed out click on the recipe title for full details.

Roast Chicken with Bread & Arugula Salad (4.5 stars)

Recipe Review: I've been a consistent failure when it comes to roasting whole chicken. This is the first time I've been close to making a successful dish. The chicken was juicy and flavorful with just enough lemon and thyme (I did season the day before as suggested) but the real star is the bread. Since the bread sits underneath the chicken it sponges up all of the chicken/thyme/lemon flavors that run through it. It also toasts up perfectly and doesn't make a huge mess of your skillet since the chicken doesn't even touch it. It's amazing.

Comments: We had spinach on hand so I used that instead of arugula and it worked out fine but I think arugula would be better. I added radish to incorporate the missing peppery flavor that the arugula would have brought. I also chopped dried cranberries instead of currants.

Since Christian is gluten free I had made a gluten free loaf of bread (Bob Red Mill Bread Mix) and used a thick slice of that under my chicken. I think gluten free bread is more dense so the results are probably a little different.

Suggestions/Tips: Yes - this is roasted at 500 degrees. I did clean my oven beforehand. I don't think the bread crouton will crisp at lower temps since the cast iron is thick. Soggy croutons are gross so I wouldn't mess with this. Make sure to also use a thick slice of bread in order to hold up under the weight of the chicken.

If your chicken is closer to 4.5 pounds I'd leave it roast for a little over 30 minutes. With a 4 pound+ chicken and a cast iron skillet this is a heavy dish to pull out of the oven. Bend at the knees.

Garlic & Herb Roasted Shrimp (4 stars)

1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons minced garlic (6 cloves)
2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 large lemons
2 pounds shrimp, peeled with tails on (I took my tails off)
1 teaspoon sea salt
4 slices country bread, toasted

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Melt butter over low heat in medium saute pan. Add olive oil, garlic, rosemary, red pepper flakes, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper and cook over medium heat for one minute. Off heat, zest one lemon into butter mixture.
Place shrimp snugly  in saute pan or baking dish and pour mixture over. Sprinkle with sea salt, pepper and tuck roughly five slices of lemon throughout the dish. Roast for 12-15 minutes.

Recipe Review: This is a great basic garlic and lemon shrimp recipe. It is quick to make and really versatile. 

Comments: I served this over a salad and used the garlic lemon juice as a base for the salad dressing. I've also made this over linguine and it was good.  

Suggestions/Tips: Buy the shrimp deveined unless you want to add lots of prep for yourself : (

Salted Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies (2.5/4.5 stars)

Note: Truth be told...I really just greased the pan and scooped a few cookies on this one. My friend Emily did the majority of the work. With my baking skills I probably would have botched these : )

Recipe Review: I gave this two ratings. Out of the oven and the next morning (yup, I had them for breakfast) these were a 4.5 and I could have taken down the whole plate. However, these cookies plummeted to a 2.5. I thought they dried out really fast and the flavors changed after about a day or so. 

Comments: I had Toll House chocolate chips on hand so I used those instead of fancy chocolate. The sugar was also cut a little - maybe less 1/4 cup which worked because the chocolate chips we used were semi sweet, not bittersweet.

Suggestions/Tips: If using bittersweet chocolate I'd go for the full amount of sugar. I'd strongly suggest serving these the day you bake them. Chilling the dough and then baking did give a crispier cookie. It is an extra step but I thought it was worth the effort. 

Tomatoes and Burrata with Garlic Toasts (4 stars)

Recipe Review: Yum. I don't understand why burrata isn't really well known. It's the avocado of cheese and should have a cult following. The tomatoes that came straight from our backyard made this a perfect lunch on a hot summer day. 

Comments:  I put the toast in the toaster oven instead of baking. 

Suggestions/Tips: Be generous with the salt on this one. The fresh raw garlic on the toast is STRONG. Go easy or don't make plans after you eat unless you have a toothbrush nearby.

Warm Fig & Arugula Salad (1.5 stars)


Recipe Review: Ew! I'm not even going to bother with typing out this recipe. Sorry. It's basically arugula with a honey dijon vinaigrette, blue cheese, walnuts and roasted figs.

Comments: Blue cheese isn't allowed on my diet so I used parmesan. I don't think the cheese would have made a difference for me. The issue is with the fig. There is a reason why the Fig Newton uses the fig as a jelly filling and not on top of a salad. The consistency was similar to roasting eggplant and putting hot gooey eggplant on lettuce. Yuck.

Suggestions/Tips: I've still got a boat load of figs in my fridge. I might try a fig and brie panini or a dish using it as a spread or filling. Any suggestions?