Roasted Chicken….Panna Culinary Challenge

Posted on July 6, 2016

If you love cooking and love challenging yourself in the kitchen, a Panna subscription is a must. Are you looking fabulous recipes? Famous chefs? Panna delivers. Would you like to spice up your culinary skills? Are you a visual learner? Panna makes it happen.

I had my first interaction with Panna cooking when I purchased my amazing Cutco knife. A knife so sharp that it could cut a finger off with a small misstep. Trust me. With my new Cutco knife, I received a free one year subscription to Panna. Panna recipes are not for the culinary faint of heart, but with Panna’s easy step by step instructions and “how to” videos, one has the opportunity to take the step from home cook to home chef.

Here is my Panna Cooking Challenge. I received an email from Panna entitled “9 Culinary School Recipes Every Cook Should Know“. I was immediately intrigued. Although I have fanciful dreams of attending culinary school, and maybe I will one day, I am still paying off grad school loans. I thought this is a great opportunity to challenge myself and see if I can improve my culinary skills and learn some new culinary techniques.

The 9 Culinary School Recipes include:

Smoked Salmon Souffle
Sauteed Scallops with Brown Butter, Rosemary, and Preserved Lemon
Chicken Stock
Fresh Pappardelle with Favas and Prosciutto
Roast Chicken with Garlic-Herb Compound Butter
Sweet Potato and Blue Cheese Gratin
Frittata with Garlic, Bacon, Roasted Tomatoes, and Thyme
Eggs Benedict
Tarte Aux Pommes

My goal is to successfully make each recipe on this list. The people responsible for these recipes are accomplished chefs, such as Jonathan Waxman, Anita Lo, and Naomi Pomeroy to name a couple. Each recipe includes detailed instructions, a video, and the techniques you will learn while cooking the recipe.

I choose to try the Roasted Chicken first. We had company coming in for Father’ Day, and I thought it was the perfect opportunity to receive some feedback. In the past, the task of roasting a chicken seemed daunting. After roasting a few chickens, I have come to realize it is the perfect meal. A good whole chicken is not terrible expensive which is always a plus. With the right recipe, a whole roasted chicken can be quite simple and very tasty with minimal ingredients. Although I made this chicken for a special occasion, this roasted chicken recipe could be an “anytime meal”.

Roast Chicken with Garlic-Herb Compound Butter

Here is the break down. Compound butter is a great idea. I was able to use some of fresh herbs from the garden in the butter. For the novice cook, room temperature butter is NOT softened butter. It DOES make a difference. Using room temperature butter will help you in the process of injected the butter between the skin and chicken. By the time you get the hang of this recipe, you will know your way around a chicken. Day 1 prep of the chicken is quick and painless even though I lost points for the butter fiasco.

Day 2 preparation and cooking is not difficult but carefully read the instructions. Take advantage of watching the instructional video. My interpretation of a couple of steps differed from that of the chef. I did get confused on how to position the bread. If I had watched the instructional video, I would have prepared the bread and chicken properly. Roasting a chicken on top of a day old baguette seemed odd to me, but it was actually quite amazing. Don’t be afraid to try new things!

The flavor of this roasted chicken was delightful and refreshing. The skin was crispy. I made this recipe twice (I wanted a passing grade). The second time I corrected my mistakes. My biggest challenge was the cook time which will vary depending on the oven. I cooked the recipe in two different kitchens. The first time, my skin was crispy but the chicken wasn’t cooked thoroughly. The second time, my chicken was cooked thoroughly but my skin wasn’t crispy. In both cases, I had to extend the cooking time. Once I find the perfect cooking time with my oven, I will have an “A”.