Food Challenge: Jamie Oliver's Chicken in Milk

Yes, chicken in milk! A twist on a classic roast chicken. I initially used a recipe for garlic roast chicken, but all the garlic burned. Yep. Steve suggested this one by Jamie Oliver, and we're pretty happy with the result. The final cooked portion is very ... um, beige. It did not photograph well. lol. I also substituted the rinds with lemon juice for a more subtle flavor. The meat is incredibly moist, and you end up with the flavors of sage, lemon, and garlic encased in curdles of milk. It may be an acquired taste, but both my children happily ate it. A win win for me.

Jamie Oliver's Chicken in Milk
Recipe source: Food52
Overall flavor: A
Aesthetics: C+ (A little burned!)
Changes to recipe: Peeled the garlic. Lemon juice instead of lemon rinds.
Tip: Use tongs for browning the whole chicken and cover the pot for the first half of cooking

Food Challenge: Creamy Leek and Pancetta Pappardelle

Mission: Completed

For several months now, I've been cooking the same handful or so recipes. I finally decided to venture out and try new recipes. I wanted to keep the first challenge fairly simple, but I ended up spending more $$ than I was expecting and taking longer to prepare the dish as well. So far, each one of my food challenges will have either few or poorly taken photographs because I feel like a bad Top Chef contestant during a Quick Fire round. Anywho, so first up:

Creamy Leek and Pancetta Pappardelle
Recipe source: Blogging Over Thyme
Changes made to recipe: Doubled it to yield lunch leftovers
Overall flavor: A-
Aesthetics: D
Verdict: A heavy but rather delicious dish.

Update 3/17/15: I tried this dish again, and I have to say it turned out better just with the practice. I substituted the pappardelle with linguine per Elsie's request. The next time I make this dish, I'll probably go back to the pappardelle though. The chewy egginess of it does add to the overall flavor.