Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Pinterest Recipes...and reality


Chicken with feta cheese sauce | Garnish with Lemon




I admit I am a "pinner" and pin a  lot of stuff that looks good to eat or to make. Sometimes the recipes are way over simplified but sometimes they hit the mark but not often. 

Last night was a super simple recipe for chicken with a Feta sauce. I realize that Feta cheese must be an exotic ingredient in some parts of the country but in our house its kind of a standard. This recipe called for a roux with condensed milk and melting the cheese in the resulting sauce. Frankly, it was a little 'meh'.

I believe that we are attracted to beautiful presentation like the photo here and imagination runs wild with expectation. In reality, I knew this recipe was too simple to be very good and I don't use condensed milk to make sauces. The chicken browned up nicely after I brined it (not called for in the recipe) and sauteed it in a cast iron skillet in butter and olive oil. I usually halve my breasts but this time left them whole which presented an issue with cooking through, especially the thicker end.  After a short stint in the oven to finish cooking I focused on the sauce, just as written sans the condensed milk ( I was out anyway). Pretty salty from the cheese and pretty one note because there just wasn't much else. I am not sure that Feta is a great cheese to make a savory sauce from anyway. There are so many more complimentary cheeses that would have elevated this simple dish that I always seem to have on hand, Fontina, Parmesan or Gouda. And flavorings like mustard or any seasoning like paprika. Maybe a bit of lemon or white wine, now you're cooking!

This is not the first or the last recipe I will try from the site. I often pin what I consider successful recipes from my own blog. So far with Pinterest,  its a crap shoot. I will certainly be more choosy regarding ingredients and complexity though.


























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