Prince Charming and I live by ourselves as we have an almost empty nest. The two daughters are married and out living with their own families. However, they DO like to come home as often as they can as does the 5 grandkids....especially the oldest one! She likes to eat!! LOL
Since Prince Charming (PC) built me a new screened in porch this summer, we have eaten almost every single meal out there on this tiny vintage table.
This morning the Blue Ridge Mountains had a chill and we decided to enjoy our coffee inside. This makes me sad because we both dearly love the outdoors and dining alfresco especially in the mornings.
Today PC wasn't feeling good so we decided to not go to church and I was in a cooking mood, putting up the harvest has kept me in the kitchen for far different reasons for several weeks and it was time to put that on the back burner for a few hours and cook!
I have made this dish, Chicken Braised In Milk, before using Jamie Oliver's recipe and I liked it, PC didn't really see the thrill. So I tweaked it to suit both of us, Quite frankly I can now say it is our very favorite way to eat chicken, bar none!
Oh you aren't supposed to take pictures when you serve out of the pot? Ha, I will try to remember that!
The meat is so juicy and fork tender. Seasoned to perfection. The 'curdled sauce' LOL is divine.
I added potatoes to the pot while cooking and they were perfect.
Desert was my Plum Custard Crumb Tart.
Smack Yo Momma!
I have put the best of all plum tart worlds together with this concoction, shortbread crust, custard filling, crumb/struesel topping and the plum slices all in a pretty ring....no ugly pear halves for my special tart!
Even tho I slapped a crumb topping on there I know they are lined up sorta pretty.
Baked to a golden shade of YUMMM.
This crust is Da Bomb.....stays together, just the right degree of flaky and it DID NOT stick!!!!
Slap a little vanilla ice cream for the perfect ala mode and call it dessert!
Tangy/sweet/tart all rolled up in one!
I hope you enjoy my versions of these great dishes.
Chicken Braised in Milk
One Whole Fryer Chicken (WHOLE) 3-6 lbs (Mine was 6.5 lbs)
2-3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
Kosher Salt and Cracked Black Pepper
2 Cups Whole Milk
1 Red Onion, Large & Sliced
Fresh Rosemary Sprigs
Zest of 1 or 2 lemons
5 or 6 whole cloves garlic, peeled
A few shakes of fresh ground nutmeg
Potatoes (If desired)
Place oil in a 5-6 quart dutch oven.
Coat the whole chicken with salt and pepper. Sear on all sides until a beautiful brown color. Makes for great sauce with the pan goo that releases later during cooking.
Once the desired color is reached let the meat rest in Dutch Oven.
Add all the other ingredients, shave a little nutmeg on top.
Add potatoes if desired and add a little salt and pepper to them.
I placed my dutch oven, uncovered, in a 350 degree oven because I wanted to bake my tart at same time. If Making this chicken by itself you can increase the temp to 375.
Bake uncovered, basting the bird and potatoes occasionally for flavor and moisture.
If you start to lose juices you can cover the pot.
Bake until chicken starts to pull away from the leg quarters approximately 1 1/2 hours.
The lemon will cause the milk to separate/curdle and that is a GREAT thing. This makes the most awesome sauce to serve over both the meat and potatoes.
Plum Custard Crumb Tart
Shortbread Crust:
1 stick Butter, cold (I used salted)
1 1/4 Cups All Purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 Teaspoon Almond Flavoring
(If you don't care for almond - who doesn't like almond?- you can use vanilla)
the almond flavoring is a perfect combo with the plums because they are both stone fruits
Custard Filling:
3 Tablespoons Granulated Sugar
1 Tablespoon All Purpose Flour
Pinch of Salt
1/2 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream
1 Large Egg
1/2 Teaspoon Almond (or Vanilla) Flavoring
Crumb Topping:
1/2 Cup All Purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
3 Tablespoons Cold Butter
1/2 Teaspoon Cinnamon
A few shakes of freshly shaved Nutmeg
4-5 large red ripe plums
Preheat oven to 350.
Prepare crust: Stir together dry ingredients and sprinkle flavoring over top. Cut in butter until well mixed but still not together, clumps of butter but evenly mixed. Pat mixture in the bottom and sides of a well buttered 8" tart pan. Bake at 350 until light golden on the edges and slightly puffy. Aprox 15 minutes. Cool before adding custard so it doesn't curdle when it touches the too hot crust.
Prepare the Custard Filling:
Whisk all ingredients together in a medium bowl.
Wash plums, remove seeds and slice in half or 1/3" slices.
Arrange plums in crust.
I like mine sliced and placed in rings around the pan....cause I am OCD enough to do that even tho they are covered with crumb topping!
Arrange plums to your liking and pour filling over plums.
Crumb Topping:
Simply cut butter into dry ingredients, add nutmeg and sprinkle loosely over pie.
Bake in a 350 degree oven until custard is set and bubbly, approx 35 min. Increase temp to 400 for about 5-7 minutes to add a golden and caramelized glaze to the pie.
Allow pie to cool before slicing.
Baking times always vary with different ovens.
I use convection for all my oven use and I adjust accordingly.
I have given times that should work for most all regular ovens. If you bake with convection you know to adjust and to always watch your creation closely!
Enjoy!!
We served this chicken dish with some creamed corn from our garden.
Tart ala mode and we are happy campers!
After all.....it's a good day to eat!
God Bless You All,
Becky
I appologize for the horrible tiny photos. I used my iphone for these. Follow me on Facebook and you can see the much better version of them. I promise I will use my big camera from here on out!
