08.09.08: Pollo alla Cacciatora

Yep, We did it again - already. She had a hankering to try the delish tomatoey-chicken dish over brown/wild rice, with a stir-thru of capers, and She made it so. The rest of the St Agur blue cheese graced a salad of sweetfire beetroot, radishes, and avocado with mixed leaves.

HE SAYS: We like this dish, we really, really like it. She cooked this one up good, a little less soupy then my try but still mighty fine. The capers added a certain tasty tang to the tomato-based sauce, me lapped it up and went back fo' more. I luvved the salad too, sweetfire beetroot and radishes! They be my bestest friends.

SHE SAYS: This is quite a mystery: even before I let the cacciatora cook with the pot lid on, it contained far less liquid than His version. So it's not the rice soaking up the gravy that's making it appear less souplike. We're using the same recipe, so it's a head-scratcher for now. Still wonderfully satisfying with that touch of woody aroma from the celery salt and the tender thigh meat. Capers def. add a little sumpin' sumpin' in the pickeldy weirdness department. Of course, We had no trouble polishing off the rest of the intensely creamy, mildly flavoursome blue cheese in an otherwise virtuous salad episode. I'm thinking St Agur is the kind of blue you could give to people wary of blue cheese intensity.

04.09.08: Nigella's Pollo Alla Cacciatora

Continuing 'do the new' week, He stirred it up good with Nigella's Pollo Alla Cacciatora, featuring chicken thighs, cannellini beans, rosemary, pancetta and a dab of oddly exotic celery salt. The everything-you-could-want salad of pear, radish, remaining fancy feta, etc met its match with Nigella's greatest hit, the wasabi-lime dressing.

SHE SAYS: Now this is a keeper. It put us both in mind of a richer minestrone, and I do think adding some brown rice would have been oh-so-nice (and stretched it to leftovers), but it was certainly a full meal without. Chicken was tender and soaked up the spiky flavours of the tomato broth nicely. It was a utensil-lickin' kind of supper, yesirree bob. Salad was good, esp with the one-two punch of the highfalutin' cheese and the nose-tingling dressing, but I think I prefer fewer ingredients (I know, the crowd is gasping! but it's true).

HE SAYS: Yesh, agree with her, it's definitely one to put on heavy rotation especially as the days grow shorter and the cold comes in. A very satisfying, hearty meal with lots of flavas to keep the taste buds happy and also very quick to put together. The lime dressing again did all that it set out to achieve and more, not only proving extremely taste-tastic but clearing my sinuses to boot.