Sleeper Hits of Magnolia Table

Today’s blog is brought to you by the letter “Almond”.  Though unplanned, it seems a theme has emerged, with this nut at the center of each dish.  Strangely enough, I was proven wrong time and time again this week by recipes which frankly I thought would suck, but turned out to be mind-blowingly awesome or oddly satisfying.  I have avoided, ignored, and “forgotten” to make these dishes for various reasons, but as I enter the final 20, now I have no choice.  Though it pains me to say this, I don’t approach each new recipe with an open mind and excitement in my heart.  These were prepared with Door Dash on speed dial and my finger poised above the “send” button.  But oh, how mistaken I was!  

I love Brussels sprouts.  Bacon, cream, Parmesan, balsamic vinegar, even mayonnaise; there are so many complementary flavors to pair with them!  You know what I do NOT think of when I imagine delicious counterparts to this amazing vegetable?  Blueberries.  Yes, you read that right.  Who in their right mind combines blueberries with Brussels sprouts?!  The main reason for procrastinating on making Brussels Sprouts Salad was that the mere idea of a hot side dish with fruit ‘n Brussels made me gag.  When I finally forced myself to make it for no other reason than I had all the ingredients, I read through the directions and realized it was a cold salad.  That got me thinking along the lines of coleslaw or an apple/fennel slaw, which wasn’t as horrendous as I’d feared.  I worked myself up to it, trying to imagine a sweet, mayonnaise-based dressing (like KFC makes!) and thought it might just bridge the gap between the bitter and sweet ingredients.  Alas, I was disappointed as I gathered up supplies and realized there was no mayo in sight.  Instead, the dressing consisted of a simple vinaigrette (vinegar, oil, honey, salt and pepper).  My faith can only be tested to a certain point, so I used a blood orange-infused olive oil to double down on the fruit flavors, and as much honey as I deemed necessary.  (Hint: it was more than just a teaspoon!)  I further flouted the instructions to “shred with a knife, cutting on the bias”.  Say what??  I did not have time for that nonsense (well, yes I did, what I lacked was interest!) so instead I used my handy-dandy, Pioneer Woman food processor shredding blade, recently purchased for a very reasonable price and shamelessly plugged!

Ree…  If you’re reading this, I still love you!

Ahem.  My sprouts were shredded in record time, and I threw in frozen blueberries and sliced almonds, then tossed everything together with the dressing.  After two hours of chilling, the moment of truth arrived.  I took the lid off the bowl and looked at a truly hideous salad, mostly due to the frozen berries leaching color and extra juice, but I was intrigued.  I closed my eyes so I wouldn’t have to look at it, and one bite later, I totally got it.  It shouldn’t work.  BUT IT DOES!!

My food photos generally don’t compete with the ones in Magnolia Table.  I’m no pro, and I have no specialty equipment save for my trusty iPhone.  Still, I have to give myself props for my Almond Chicken Tenderloins looking WAY more appetizing than the picture in the book!  But I have to give Jo props for designing an outstanding, quick chicken dish, which I ignored for so long because it looked sort of bland, dry, and tasteless.  Of course that’s not a fair assessment, but the saying “you eat with your eyes first” holds very true for me.  The cookbook photo looked like your average frozen chicken strips with some almonds thrown on top, and TADA!  Now it’s Almond Chicken!  Au contraire, mon frère!  Ok, in all honesty I am the one who is guilty of simply throwing sliced almonds on top of the chicken when it was finished.  I was supposed to toast them in butter or something, but I was really hungry.  And the REAL almond star was in the form of flour, not the topping.  The tenders (or in my case, giant chicken breasts cut into tender-sized pieces, because really that’s all the butcher does and it costs twice as much to buy something marked “tenders”!) were prepared similarly to fried chicken, sans the buttermilk bath.  The other difference is the use of equal parts all-purpose flour and almond flour, plus a mixture of spices.  I added garlic powder to the salt/pepper/Italian seasoning/onion powder combo, since that’s my favorite, but you could easily include paprika, cayenne, or other herbs to customize to your liking.  I believe there must be something in the chemistry of this flour combo that helped make the chicken brown so evenly and not burn, despite the super-hot butter and oil.  Whatever it was, I’ll be making these again!

Do you have any idea how many obstacles stood between me and Flatbread Pizza with Prosciutto and Parmesan?  It was like the universe was trying to keep us apart, yet fate brought us together.  1) I requested flatbread (garlic and herb naan in this instance) when I made an Instacart order two weeks ago, but when it arrived, there was no naan to be found.  I discovered I never actually added it to the list.  2) That evening, I sent the Other Half out into the world to fetch the aforementioned naan when he picked up a few extra things he wanted from the store, but too late for dinner.  3) Naan in hand, I planned to make the pizza the following day, but house-chores and yard-chores wiped me out.  Cereal for dinner.  4) Another day, another Instacart order, and the guy tried to sub out my requested fresh basil with dehydrated flakes.  Nah, dude.  Not EVEN the same thing!  He brought me nothing basil-related when I declined that swap.  5) I remembered I GREW FRESH BASIL in my Aerogarden; take that, King Soopers!  Now to just grab my naan and make it… except it had started to mold.  By now it was a matter of principle.  When I opened the package and saw the top piece had grown a patch of fur, I tossed that one, but decided the second piece was good enough.  I picked off the only questionable spot and set to work.  The real reason I’d let all these excuses get in my way is because it just didn’t sound very good.  Potatoes on pizza is something I’ve had before (and liked it fine), but I wasn’t feeling the carb-on-carb action.  As I built each layer, I realized I was an idiot.  For starters, a layer of olive oil was slathered on the flatbread.  So far, so good.

I used a local specialty store’s Tuscan Herb variety (support small businesses!!) and then skipped all Jo’s directions for making a white sauce.  Instead, I pulled a bowl of homemade Alfredo sauce that I had been trying to determine a use for from the fridge.  It was too small of an amount for pasta, but just enough to serve as the sauce layer on pizza.  Per Jo’s flavor profile, I added Gorgonzola, which only makes everything better!  Next came salty prosciutto, Parmesan shreds, and thinly sliced red potatoes, which had been boiled briefly.  I baked the whole masterpiece for about 20 minutes, and topped it with torn leaves of fresh basil.  OH.  MY.  GOSH!!!  This is probably the single most delicious thing I have made out of the entire book, and I am kicking myself for taking so long to try it.     Green Beans Amandine…  Doesn’t that just sound hopelessly old fashioned??  Besides, I never trust a recipe that leaves the “L” out of “almond”.  I tried to serve these at a dinner party but lost my nerve and made something safer.  I tried again the ‘Day That Everything Went Wrong’, when I learned one does not simply freeze fresh green beans.  The resultant soggy mush forever put me off attempting that again, and I ditched the recipe for a second time.  I needed something green on my plate last night, so I bit the bullet and decided to make a batch of these beans, once and for all.  Except it most certainly will NOT be the last time I make them!  For starters, fresh haricot vert are delicious all by themselves, and I like the pretty little curly ends.  It makes me feel fancy, and don’t we all need a little of that right now?  Second, I didn’t realize there was a sauce involved; again, the cookbook photo didn’t do the dish justice.  Sauces are always a bonus, though I wasn’t excited about this one.  Vinegar and sherry had me imagining bitter, pungent greens, until I added honey, garlic and brown sugar.  That’s when the magic happened…  That, my friends, is teriyaki sauce!  Or at least most of the main ingredients, minus the soy.  The almonds (or should I say “amands”??) were cooked in this sweet, tangy mixture and mixed with the blanched beans.  Leftovers?  We don’t need no stinkin’ leftovers!  I ate every last one.

As a bonus recipe for this post, I must dedicate a minute to Creamy Squash Casserole. It was good, don’t get me wrong, but it didn’t fall into the category of “mind-blowing”, nor contain almonds.  In the Chicken Tender photo, it’s the other side dish in the background, and it’s a respectable contribution to dinner.  I used the food processor again to shred some yellow squash and added it to cooked onion and green chiles, cheese, a cream sauce and a Ritz cracker topping.  However…  When your cat climbs on the counter and is STANDING IN THE PAN to eat it, it must be pretty tasty!  I’m fairly certain these are not cat-friendly foods, so don’t try this at home!  My cat is just an ornery beast, and yes, several days later she is still fine.  Behold, the clear footprint in the casserole and the culprit, brazenly licking the evidence off her paw!