So we finally got to try the "Roasted chicken with Jerusalem artichoke & lemon" when the farmer's market had some Jerusalem artichokes. We were probably a little too impromptu, because I gave it the minimum two-hour marinade instead of the ideal overnight, so we may not have gotten the full impact. Also, the pink peppercorns came through too strongly for my taste, whether because they were old or just because that's the way they taste. I'd cut back a second time. Lastly, we didn't get nearly enough tarragon, so that probably detracted as well.
It did nothing to dim our enthusiasm, however. We had better luck with "Lamb meatballs with barberries, yogurt & herbs." The Blue Rooster Farm supplied the ground lamb at its monthly visit to our farmer's market and Shemali's, the Middle Eastern store at Sutton Place, had the barberries, so we had a delicious concoction of meatballs, shallots and figs, topped with Greek yogurt. The sauce was rich and brown and the familiar combination of allspice, cinnamon, garlic and onions gave it all an exotic air.
The star so far, though, has been the "Chicken with caramelized onion & cardamom rice." As the authors say in the headnote, cooking the rice with the chicken obviates the need for stock and all the lovely flavors go into the rice. The 10 cardamom pods are not crushed or ground so the cardamom flavor remains very subtle, yet perfumes both the rice and the meat with that indefinable touch of the Orient. Typically, Ottolenghi and Tamimi flavor this at the end with chopped herbs -- cilantro, parsley and dill. Only on the second day -- because we make the full recipes so we really end up having Saturdays, Sundays and sometimes Mondays with Ottolenghi -- did we use the optional Greek yogurt and olive oil topping, and we'll never leave it off again.
We've also done some of the side dishes and I'll back to those another time.
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