The Cooking Critic

There are few things in life more satisfying than a good dumpling. Actually, there are few things in life more satisfying than a mediocre dumpling for that matter. I make my dumplings with Bisquick, and I’m not afraid to admit it. They puff up nice and fluffy as you please, and I toss in a little parsley to throw people off the Bisquick scent. In fact, I bet you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between my Bisquick dumplings and somebody else’s homemade dumplings. Actually, I’m sure some people could tell the difference, but I suspect those people aren’t reading my blog. Not now anyways. Someday they will. Some day THE WHOLE WORLD will be reading my blog. Mwah-ha-ha-ha-ha! And I will hold them in thrall with my ruminations on dumplings. (You are getting very sleepy. You like dumplings. Dumplings are your friend.)

So while the Better Homes New Cookbook provided the base for this Chicken Stew with Dumplings (they even recommended I use Bisquick, more or less), Cooking Light provided some ideas for additional flavor, so I’m citing them here. Cite your sources, people! Don’t plagiarize like my students like to do sometimes. Boo, plagiarism!

Adjustments: I sautéed fresh celery and onions and garlic instead of using frozen onions, frozen vegetables and garlic powder. Dill was my fresh herb of choice for this dish since I had some around. And add 2 tablespoons of sherry at the end for additional flavor.

Assessment: Not the most amazing Chicken ’n Dumplings I’ve ever made but good, and I felt very, very comforted. I make this dish differently every time, but I think my most successful rendition (and also the most time-consuming) took heavily from Emeril’s TV Dinners, which uses heavy cream, made-from-scratch dumplings and fresh jalapeños, among other ingredients—I hear he likes to kick things up a notch.

Macaroni and cheese isn’t something I’d typically serve as a meal to a friend, but Shahan Sannossian caught me on a strange day. I had planned on making him a homemade tomato soup, but my stomach was bothering me and didn’t like the thought of a meal composed nearly entirely of acidic tomatoes. My stomach much preferred the thought of the always-comforting mac and cheese. Of course, you can’t just dump a box of macaroni in a boiling water and call it dinner (at least when company is involved), so I figured out a way to make it presentable.

I used Trader Joe’s Aged White Cheddar Macaroni and Cheese for my Fancified Macaroni and Cheese and included prosciutto, cooked spinach, white asparagus (though green asparagus is prettier and broccoli also works well), tomatoes, bread crumbs and cheese—I used white cheddar on one effort and Asiago on a second. And I’m going to include this in the vegetarian category since it’s easy enought to leave out the prosciutto. The recipe looks long, but that’s only because I have instructions for deseeding and deskinning tomatoes in there, which is not nearly as laborious at it sounds but does take a small paragraph to explain. Be sure to add or subtract any ingredient that suits your fancy.

Assessment: I can’t really assess the Trader Joe’s product on its own since I always add a ton of stuff to it, but it makes a great base for my Fancified Macaroni and Cheese. Shahan liked it and said he would even make it himself. And he’s a boy. Everyone knows that boys don’t cook, so that’s a solid endorsement. I’d like to thank the Academy and Williams-Sonoma Simple Recipes for the inspiration.

Jelly is old news. Peanut Butter is moving on, getting his groove back in this Sesame-Peanut Noodles recipe. Since I’m not used to putting peanut butter in foods served at dinner, I felt kind of wacky making this. I think peanut butter is not an uncommon ingredient in Asian food (or is that just peanuts?), but I’m not really sure. Clearly I don’t make a lot of Asian food.

Adjustments: Left out the peanuts because I didn’t have any. Oh and I tossed in some asparagus for blanching while boiling the noodles and mixed them into the final product. (I’m trying to up my daily veggie dose.)

Assessment: I really liked that I had on hand nearly all the ingredients it called for, and it was easy. (No, I didn’t have the mirin, but I had sherry as a substitute.) The dish was a little on the peppery side for me but tasty all in all. Peanut butter lovers should like this one. Those with peanut allergies probably won’t.

So the Thyme-Syrah Fish left me with this packet of extra thyme. What’s a girl to do except try the recipe suggested on the box? So Chicken Breast with Fresh Thyme Cream Sauce for dinner it was. I’m not sure how I managed to forget what a pain plucking thyme is, but I did. This deceptive recipe only has a few ingredients (chicken, flour, butter, garlic, sherry, chicken broth, cream and thyme) but still managed to make me late for meeting someone for drinks. Does anybody out there have a better method to get those thyme leaves off the stem other than to run your forefinger and thumb down the herb to make the little leaves pop off? When I measured the leaves and saw I only had a tablespoon, I couldn’t help thinking “Is that all?” Luckily ITunes started playing “This Bird Can Sing” at that moment and buoyed me through the next half tablespoon.

Adjustments: Only full-salt chicken broth instead of reduced salt broth. Oh and I used thinly sliced chicken breasts, which helped speed up the cooking process.

Assessment: Despite my complaints, the dish did taste quite nice, though creamier than I would have liked. I could end up making it again if I happen to have a bunch of thyme and time on me–(I tried to figure out another way to avoid that corny statement and just couldn’t think of anything.) If I were to make it again, I might add less cream or not reduce the chicken broth/sherry mixture as much as I did. A second person helping with the thyme might cut down on the prep time and make the dish seem more worthwhile.  But even as I write this, I just can’t bring myself to take the time to type in the recipe.  That says a lot.