Cooking Through Magnolia Table In A Year: Week 5

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To start off our second month of cooking through Magnolia Table, this week’s recipes featured Fried Chicken (p.223) with Sticky Poppy Seed Jam (p.225) and Scalloped Potatoes (p.173). Created as a birthday celebration meal for my brother, we paired the recipes above with a side of green beans and coconut cream pie for dessert. Each of these recipes stayed strong in their scores despite quite a number of ratings, so after having been put to the test, they have been found to please a large crowd.

Fried Chicken

Sure to win the hearts of most Southern crowds, fried chicken is a staple loved by many. While this was my first time trying my hand at deep frying chicken, Joanna’s recipe was easy to follow and delicious to eat. The Fried Chicken provided an extremely crispy exterior just above the tender and juicy interior meat. Once drizzled with (or dipped in) the Sticky Poppy Seed Jam, the chicken took on a sweet and salty balance that was quite delicious. Not only did the chicken satisfy our bellies, but after being paired with baking the Scalloped Potatoes, it filled the house with a glorious aroma that made everyone excited for dinner on a cold winter day.

Crowd Average Rating:

With a variety of scores ranging from a 10 to a 7, this Fried Chicken recipe gained a solid average rating of an 8! I was very impressed with how the cooking experience went along with the results, and many in our crowd went up for seconds. If I was to make this Fried Chicken again however, I might add a few more seasonings into the flour mixture to enhance the crispy skin.

Cooking Through Magnolia Table In A Year: Week 5 - Fried Chicken

If you paired the chicken with the Sticky Poppy Seed Jam, it was extremely flavorful, however a couple in our gathering preferred the chicken by itself, in which adding a few additional spices to the flour mixture before frying might be encouraged. That being said, this recipe does call for it to be served with the Sticky Poppy Seed Jam, which provides much of the flavor, so I think it might just depend on the people you are cooking for. Likewise, if you are making this recipe for a large group, use as large of a pot as you have on hand to help eliminate the need for as many batches and to keep your oil temperature even. I used my second largest pot which did work well, but it increased my cooking time, as I needed several batches to make it through all the chicken and it made it more challenging to keep my oil temperature hot enough.

Sticky Poppy Seed Jam

Regarding the Sticky Poppy Seed Jam, I was very pleasantly surprised with this recipe! Sweet with a taste of citrus and a texture of poppy seeds, this Jam provided a wonderful enhancement to the Fried Chicken. While I have not tried it yet, I could see how Joanna would also recommend this recipe to be drizzled over biscuits or cornbread, as I believe it would be delicious in that context as well. I would imagine that it even would make a fabulous glaze for a ham but either way, this recipe could be used in many ways, and would be a wonderful addition to whatever it is added to.

Crowd Average Rating:

Also coming in at an average rating of an 8, this Sticky Poppy Seed Jam was primarily loved by those willing to try it. While a few picky eaters did not venture to add this to their Fried Chicken, most of the rest of us loved the sweet addition. Likewise, some said the texture was not their favorite with so many crunchy poppy seeds, but others said it was so fabulous, they would love to drizzle it on everything! Overall, I was very pleased with the recipe and am excited to use its leftovers on other pieces.

Scalloped Potatoes

The last recipe featured for this week was the Scalloped Potatoes. Warm and inviting, this Scalloped Potato recipe was golden brown and beautifully creamy. With most people being excited to try any version of potatoes, these Scalloped Potatoes certainly feed a crowd while using far fewer potatoes then typical mashed potatoes or even baked potatoes. Easy to make, serve and clean up, this recipe would make a great item to prep earlier in the day, pop in the fridge and then bake shortly before serving. We found that after it had been able to rest for 15 to 20 minutes after coming out from the oven, everything was even more set and extremely flavorful.

Crowd Average Rating:

Only slightly below the ratings of the Fried Chicken with Sticky Poppy Seed Jam, the Scalloped Potatoes gained a strong crowd average rating of 7.5. When making these potatoes again, the only items I might change would be to eliminate the milk from the cheesy cream mixture and to increase the cooking time.

I had to add about 10 minutes to the cooking time to allow the top to golden brown appropriately, however if you preferred yours less brown, you certainly would not have to increase the time. Likewise, since the potatoes were already cooked until fork tender, they did not absorb as much of the liquid from the milk in the cheesy cream mixture. While everything tasted delicious, I prefer a little less liquid, so I either would reduce the milk or just be sure to let the potatoes set for about 20 minutes before serving. They did firm up as they set, so that would be an option as well if you didn’t want to change the milk addition.

Looking Ahead – Week Six

Week 6 Shopping List Includes:

Butter
Garlic powder
Onion
Baby Bella mushrooms
Eggs
Spinach

Swiss cheese
Pie crust
Chicken broth
Leeks
Risotto rice
Ground black pepper

Kosher salt
Parmesan cheese
Lemon
Garlic
Heavy cream
Nutmeg
Parsley

Looking at our 1 Year Guide of cooking through the Magnolia Table, this upcoming week 6 will include two meals featuring Mushroom, Spinach & Swiss Cheese Quiche (p.23) and Fresh Spinach & Leek Risotto (p.227). Having primarily finished the ingredients from the past couple of weeks, not as many of the past items will carry over except perhaps your heavy whipping cream, lemon, or garlic. This upcoming week will be a week of truly stretching our culinary palettes especially when it comes to the mushrooms within the quiche. As mushrooms are not a favorite of all, I will be excited to see if we can keep our streak of ratings above a 7 going or if they will take a slight dive.

Final Thoughts

With our first week of February down, I continue to be excited for each week’s new recipe adventures. I have found it very soothing to have both structure and adventure in cooking new recipes that are already planned out ahead of time, as it allows for trying something new without the mental stress of tracking down and figuring out how to work in a new recipe. This has been a very surprising revelation to me so far and I am excited to see if it continues as we progress. I hope that you all might find this adventure to provide both a calming and exciting effect for your family as well!

Happy cooking!