Week 1, Box 1, 4 Basket Ingredients....

Welcome to the spectacle everyone! Step right up and watch the disaster in progress. For Monday I received my very Farm Box of the season! A little late due to a cold and late spring but super bountiful. Of course the vast majority of this first box is salad greens, and therefore slightly un-creative, but we've got some goodies too so let's dive in!

This week's box contained the following:

1. Red Lettuce (which went to my Granddad who was thrilled to see it)
2. Green Lettuce (Ginormous) 
3. Half a Bok Choi (the other half taken by the MIL)
4. Micro Greens
5. Rhubarb
6. Two Tomatoes
7. Garlic Curls  (those curly tops of the garlic that gave me such a heart attach last year)
8. And Garlic Chives (which are neither garlic nor chives, but still yummy)

I was already making plans in my head, the Rhubarb is OBVIOUSLY being turned into Jam again because it came out so yummy last year and I know I only get it once, twice if I am lucky. Salad greens to be washed up and made into salads (Duh) and I was getting really excited about the Bok Choi when a sadistic smile on The Husband's face reminded me that in my joy in finally having my farm fresh produce back, I had forgotten something...My basket ingredients.

is that, Kiwi? Yes yes it was, and wasabi peas, AND apple chips... not to mention A WHOLE FRIGGEN CHICKEN. 

Panic, dear readers, according to dictionary.com is a sudden overwhelming fear, with or without cause, that produces hysterical or irrational behavior, and that often spreads quickly through a group of persons or animals. In this case I had cause and the group of people was just one person... ME. I saw fleeting visions of me slaving over a hot stove for hours on end, of burnt chicken, of salmonella, of The Husband guzzling down glass after glass of water trying to wash away the intense taste of wasabi.  What had I gotten myself into?

I now understood the fear the Chopped participants must have when they open their baskets, and those are trained chefs. Granted I have been cooking for myself and others for at least 7 years and I have always had a slight knack and skill, but create recipes off the top of my head? With ingredients I have never worked with? And one of those ingredients is KIWI? I loath kiwi. UGH.

After collecting myself, I contemplated the basket. Took a deep breath and decided to break down the chicken because there was no way I was going to roast an entire chicken. To be honest, I am not even sure I would know how to roast a chicken, breaking down a chicken didn't seem all that easy either, but I have watched plenty a you tube video on how to do it so I was more confident. With a hope and a prayer, two knifes and a pair of scissors I set about it.

Hey Look at that. I did it... I think. The wings gave me a little bit of trouble, I think I essentially ripped them off, but the legs and thighs actually came off quite easily, and the breast, well I had intended to keep them on the bone but that didn't really work out, sue me.

Next step, the apples and the wasabi peas. I left the kiwi to the side because I hate kiwi and didn't want to deal with it. But the apples and the peas were a different story. My first instinct was to try and reconstitute the apples in some way, and use them with the Kiwi to make a compote of sorts. But that left me with the wasabi peas on there own, free to destroy all taste-buds they come in contact with. So I changed direction and got down my spice grinder. I had made a decision to make a crust for the chicken out of the apples and the peas. I was a little worried that the apples wouldn't really grind because they still seemed a little bit moist but surprisingly it worked out. NOTE: dried apples do NOT cut with a knife, you have to snap off prices one at a time. It's really weird.

Once  now ground down I tasted the mixture and found it a little more spicy then I wanted it to be, and a little two dimensional. so I added in some thyme to round out the flavors and cut the mixture with some store bought bread crumbs. Next was to decide what chicken pieces to use. I though the wings would be too fussy as they cook quickly and are kind of devoid of meat so I discarded them. Obviously the legs and thigh would have to be used, I mean they were beautiful. But the breast was harder. Without the bones to slow the cooking process down they were certainly going to cook quickly. And the skin, without any bones to anchor them looked kind of sad and flabby. So in a fit of rage, followed by a twinge of regret, I pulled the skin off of them leaving boneless skinless breasts behind, something recognizable. Finally I set up my standard breading station and got to work.

With everything breaded up nicely it was now time to actually decide HOW I was going to cook the chicken. This proved exceedingly challenging. My biggest concern was that the breast meat was going to cook faster then the thigh/leg because a) its white meat, b) I had thoughtlessly removed both the bones and the skin. I went from "I know what I'm going to do" to... "I don't know what I'm going to do" about 3 or 4 times, before finally deciding to try two different applications. The breasts were going to be saute on the stove top, and the thighs/leg would be roasted in the oven, at 425, because it felt right.

Of course this did not exactly solve my problem. the breasts came up to temp in under 10 minutes and had to be pulled where as the thighs were still coasting along at 110F. Fearing I would lose the heat in the breasts before the thighs were done I wrapped them in tinfoil and set them aside.

Now I had some time on my hands and I contemplated the kiwi. The first step was to break down and taste the Kiwi since it had been a while since I have eaten one. Of course The Husband was of no help on how you actually peel a kiwi so I set about by trial and error.

Cutting one in half I found that the skin pulled a way quite easily from the flesh, so I thought maybe I could use a spoon to scoop the flesh away from the skin like I would an avocado. This proved less then successful. I then tried a peeler, which worked for some of the kiwi's but on others it merely provided them a nice shave of their ugly little brown hairs. Finally I just started hacking away with my knife, disregarding style or shape. That was effective but obviously messy. I diced up five of the six from The Basket and then stared at my handy work/mess. (In case you were curious)

The final kiwi I finely minced, breaking it down as well as I could. I then combined it with olive oil, salt, pepper and some White Balsamic Peach Vinegar from the pantry to make a dressing.

This went into the bottom of a big bowl a log with all the micro greens from the box, about half of the garlic chives and more pieces of the apple rings and some of the wasabi peas which I whacked at with the bottom of a frying pan to break down a bit. I set that aside to toss later. The element from the Farm Box was now complete.

With a few more minutes on my hand before the thighs would be up to temperature (165F on the insta-read) I decided I was going to make a sauce with my kiwi. So I through a few tablespoons of flour into the bottom of the pan to cook up with the remaining fat. and then added 2 cups of this miso ginger stock we buy from Trader Joes. In retrospect these 2 cups was way more than I needed, but nobody ever complains if there is extra sauce. I then tossed in the kiwi hoping they would break down as the sauce cooked.

No such luck so I attacked it with the potato masher. That seemed to work, and just for good measure, and because the sauce had turned this odd puce color, I added in the garlic chives.

One final look in the oven and the thighs and legs were done. I pulled them out and began to plate. First I tossed the salad and centered it on the plates, then I laid the thighs/legs against the salad. Things were looking yummy then I pulled out the chicken breasts and OH NO! They were soggy! Of course they would be, all that work to get them nice ad GBD and then I stuck them in a package to steam. What was I thinking?!?! Granted they still tasted good and were nice and juicy, but this was a mistake. I plated them anyway. I'm kind of ashamed of that. If I was watching Chopped I would have screamed at the chef not to plate them since the plate already had all the ingredients, but I'm not on Chopped, and The Husband would still eat it anyway, so I plated them. Final step was to sloppily plate the sauce. I need to work on that. Maybe some squeeze bottles are in order. I also think the chefs plate the sauce first usually, so maybe I will try that next time. Anyway, the End Result.

It's a beauty isn't it? and it tasted good too.

JUDGE'S CORNER:

Hi there all! I am the aforementioned “Husband” who has been charged with bringing across my evaluation of the challenge. I had originally considered giving different parts of the dish a rating out of ten, but decided on a more organic general review that includes the following sections:

• Presentation
• Taste
• Use of basket ingredients 

Presentation of the dish was good. I enjoyed the Yin and Yang of the chicken done two ways around the salad which brought some nice color to the tableau. Both types had a nice looking crust that showed how they had been cooked. This does however lead into taste aspects. 

The baked chicken gave a great crunch due to the nice dry heat it received. The stove top chicken crust however was lacking its texture, and was missing the crunch that it looked like it would have. Both pieces were very moist and cooked well. The salad had great contrasts of sweet and spicy mixed in, combining the sweet kiwi dressing with the pieces of wasabi pea kicking it up here and there. The sweet gravy added an extra element that included another dimension to the chicken. I was missing one taste element from the chicken that I hoped would be there. This in fact ties into the use of basket ingredients.

The wasabi pea and dried apple breading didn’t quite bring enough flavor to the party as I was hoping. I would have liked to get a bit more spicy from the wasabi in the crust to contrast the sweetness of the kiwi gravy. All the ingredients were used in almost every part of the dish which is quite the feat. I was originally concerned about the large chunks of apple slices in the salad, but they turned out to be a good addition. Overall a delicious meal that I was happy to enjoy. I’m glad the first week was a success, but am excited to report that next week’s items may not be so easily recognizable! 

The Recipes:

For the Chicken:

• One whole chicken (enough for 2-4 people)
• 1/4 cup of wasabi peas
• 8 freeze dried apple slices
• 1 tbsp dried thyme.
• 1 cup plain bread crumbs
• 2 Eggs
• 1/4 cup flour
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• Salt & Pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 425
2. Break down the chicken into breast meat (boneless and skinless) and Thigh/Leg (bone-in, skin-on). Discard the pieces you aren't using or set them a side to make stock later (can't hurt).
3. Pat dry the pieces you are going to use with a paper towel and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
4. In a coffee grinder, or a food processor, grind the wasabi peas and the freeze dried apple till it forms a fine powder. Mix with the bread crumbs and dried thyme.
5. Set up a 3 part breading station, Part 1 - flour, Part 2- eggs beaten with a little bit of water, Part -3 bread crumb mixture.
6. Bread the chicken pieces. Place the thigh/legs in an oiled baking dish. Spray a little bit of oil on top of the chicken to help it brown. then place the thighs/legs into the preheated oven for 20-30 minutes or until the thigh reads 165 on an insta-read thermometer.
7. Put the 3 tablespoons of oil into a heavy duty fry pan on medium heat. Heat until the oil begins to shimmer and give off a few whisps of smoke. Fry the breasts on both sides until golden brown and the internal temp reads 165. If the breasts are getting brown and the inside isn't rising fast enough. lower the heat and cover the pan until the breasts come up to temp. Set the breasts aside while the thighs continue to cook and you make the sauce below. 

For the Sauce:

• 5 Kiwis roughly chopped
• 1 cup of Ginger Miso Stock from Trader Joes
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1 tbsp chopped garlic chives

1. In the same pan you just cooked the breasts in, add the flour to any remaining oil in the pan and whisk until the flour just begins to turn brown. Then Whisk in the stock and stir until it starts to thicken.
2. Toss in the Kiwis and allow them to simmer in the stock, breaking them down as you do 3-5 minutes or so.
3. Add in the garlic chives and cut the heat when the sauce is thickened to your liking. Salt and pepper to taste.
4. Once all the chicken is done, serve the sauce on the side, or drizzled over as per your preference. 

For the Salad:

• 1/4 cup good olive oil
• 1/4 cup White Balsamic Peach Vinegar
• 1 tsp Dijon Mustard
• Salt and pepper
• 1 Kiwi

• 8oz micro greens (washed and dried)
• 1 tbsp chopped garlic chives
• 1/3 cup wasabi peas (Crushed)
• 5-6 freeze dried apple rings,  broken down into bite size pieces

1. In a small container (or in a bowl using a whisk) combine the first 4 ingredients. Mince the kiwi finely and add to the container. Cover and shake until an emulsion forms. Pour into the bottom of a large bowl.
2. To the large bowl add final four ingredients and toss to coat.