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Blue Apron, Day Four: So hot.

If I had to use one adjective to sum up my latest Blue Apron meal, it'd be hot. First of all, I used way too much chipotle pepper and my lower lip is tingling, and second, I have learned my lesson about cooking anything from Blue Apron on 475. Never again.

All of the ingredients

Tonight's meal was Roasted Chicken and Mixed Mushrooms with Crispy Rosemary-Orange Salad and Chipotle Pan Sauce. I did this one first because I was really worried that the little box of mushrooms wouldn't hold up for several days. As it was, I had a few pieces of greens that just did not look very palatable so I tossed them.

Let's talk about the biggest positive first: The rosemary-orange salad. I had never used collard greens before, but thinly sliced and cooked with orange pieces, orange zest and water in a pan that was used to brown chicken is not the worst idea ever. The "dressing" was the second half of the orange pieces, a drizzle of olive oil, fried rosemary (I know it sounds weird) and a little salt and pepper. It was great.

The chicken, which was just bone-in, skin-on thighs sprinkled with salt and pepper, browned in a pan

I've never roasted mushrooms before!

and roasted in the oven tasted very good, but one thigh is not enough for dinner. It's not an expensive cut of meat, and if one of your thighs was paltry (like mine), then you might have been hungry at the end of your meal. Especially if your mushrooms were shriveled to oblivion, but we'll get to that in a second. If I hadn't needed a lunch to take to my all-day class tomorrow, I would have eaten the entire two portions for dinner.

The roasted mushrooms. Not roasted. Petrified. I should've learned my lesson about cooking anything from Blue Apron on 475 for the directed amount of time after the sweet potato fiasco, but I let my guard down after two perfect recipes. I actually didn't cook them the entire time. They were still shriveled up pieces of charcoal edible fungi. Disappointing.

This sauce was good, but way too spicy. I was a little nervous about cooking with chipotle peppers, especially after the warnings to cut them last and wash your hands, cutting board and knife immediately after. The recipe did say to taste as

Oops.

you added the pepper to make sure that you didn't get it too spicy, except chipotle is a slow burn so it didn't taste that spicy as it was cooking. And then I plated it and ate my food, and my lip is finally regaining its feeling.

My plate wasn't that pretty tonight. First of all, those poor mushrooms. Secondly, my drizzle of creme fraiche did not look like I'd hoped. I did use a beautiful Fiesta plate just in case it turned out nice.

I did drink some wine tonight. I didn't match it perfectly to Blue Apron, because I had another local wine to drink. This one was a 2014 Kinzley Reserve from Arrington Vineyards. It's mostly Sauvignon Blanc (with some Symphony grapes thrown in), so I knew it would go well with an orange-sauced chicken. It has nice citrus and tropical fruit undertones. It went really well with spicy, citrus chicken. The wine was another highlight of tonight's meal.

The plate is pretty. The actual plate. It's Fiesta ware.

Lastly, this recipe took a lot longer than the 35-45 minutes the card promised. It actually took 35 minutes for the prep and over an hour for the whole meal. A good chunk of that was pulling each individual rosemary leaf off the stalks. But rosemary briefly fried in olive oil is delicious and it makes your house smell lovely, especially if someone put in a Christmas Scentsy and your house smells like pine trees in April, but I digress.

This was my first disappointment with Blue Apron, and it was still not horrible. I had never roasted mushrooms before, and I would've loved for them to turn out. I guess I am just getting aggravated that I can't successfully navigate 475 degrees on my oven. Tomorrow night is catfish sandwich day. I am hoping it is as easy as it looks. Also, I totally missed the cancellation deadline today (I think I was messed up being in Central Time Zone, because I thought it was noon and it was really 11 a.m.), so I am getting one more week. I don't know if I will keep blogging about it. I may just post on Instagram or Facebook or Twitter instead of dissecting the whole process. But that will definitely be my last week for a bit.

P,S. Blue Apron had a contest to have someone video you while made tonight's meal. I kind of wish I would since it was such a hot mess, but I don't think that's what they were hoping for.

Labels: Blue apron, cooking, food, foodie, kitchen therapy, wine

posted by Laura at 8:33 PM