Thread by @mjfrombuffalo

So hey, it’s been a while, anyone still in the mood for some #YeOldenTimeCooking? ‘Cause this week I did a chicken dish from good ol’ Fannie Farmer, 1972 Edition.

First, I have to explain the weeks of absence from the series. Hubby, my unwitting guinea pig for these cooking experiments, had some abdominal issues NOT RELATED TO MY COOKING that kept him on a limited diet for December.

Seriously, it’s a GENETIC thing. IT’S NOT MY COOKING. So for those who really hated the misbegotten Tomato Aspic with Shrimp, unflavored gelatin mixed with meat and vegetables is NOT to blame. (It may have actually soothed the situation!)

But back to the dish at hand. Fannie Farmer billed this as Chicken Marengo, with absolutely no explanation why it was called that. So I looked it up.

Turns out Chicken Marengo is similar to other chicken dishes, but with eggs and crawfish, but nowadays Chicken Marengo doesn’t call for eggs or crawfish anymore, but somehow it’s still Chicken Marengo and not, say, chicken with mushrooms.

Anyhoo. Got my ingredients (and a shout-out to the great folks at Lucas Vineyards in the Finger Lakes for their awesome Tugboat White):

Browned the chicken with “a sprinkling of flour” while I chopped the onions.

Chopped onions! Now time for... 1/2 clove garlic?

Um, I’m already cutting this recipe in half, since there’s only two of us. 1/4 clove of garlic? This recipe was written by someone who has a thing against garlic, not, say, a normal person. So like a normal person I sliced two whole, big cloves of garlic.

(Sheesh. "1/2 clove of garlic" for four pounds of chicken. What even is the point.)

Back to business. Removed chicken, browned onions, added my TWO WHOLE, BIG CLOVES OF GARLIC (sliced). Added chicken back in with tomatoes and mushrooms. (The recipe didn’t say to do anything to the mushrooms but they were big so I sliced them.)

Covered, cooked, and voila!

Served with shell pasta and some freshly-baked bread (yeah, I’m doing the quarantine bread thing too, and for reals instead of for giggles).

This was AWESOME. Hubby loved it. The onions were just about melted into the velvety sauce produced by the pan juices. I’m not fond of dark meat chicken but I happily angled for every bit of meat off the bones. The pasta was a good choice, along w/bread to mop the plates.

Didn’t miss the egg or crawfish I didn’t know should have been in there. Hubby still alive. Verdict: Totally making again.
*fin*

If you missed or totally forgot the last episode (it was a long time ago), you can read it here:

@threadreaderapp unroll for me, merci!