Chicken and Sprouts

     Hermione knows she can’t help the house-elves by starving herself to death, but she can go to the library.  That’s her mantra: when in doubt, go the library.  She stuffs her mouth as fast as she can with lamb chops, potatoes, and sprouts so she can use the remaining lunch period to read up on elf rights. 

     Harry is happy to bring Sirius chicken legs to eat – poor Sirius has been subsisting on rats while hiding out – but his not happy to see Sirius.  He’s worried Sirius will get caught by the Ministry, which believes Sirius is a vicious murderer. 

     This weekend we did two recipes, my best friend, Ivory, and fellow student (Ravenclaw house) came over and she helped prep and cook the meals.  So we made a main dish of Lightly Seasoned Broiled Chicken Drumsticks and Brussels Sprouts with Béchamel Sauce.  Now since my mom and I are Vegan we opted for using boneless chicken breasts without the skin.  Ivory had not had Sprouts since she was a kid and she remembers that she hated them, she is also Lactose intolerant and the recipe calls for whole milk.  So she said she would try at least one in the spirit of things. 

First we gathered all of the ingredients.  Since we are going to be cooking two things at once, mom said we should prep it all.  

    Next we mixed together what was needed for the chicken while the Sprouts were steaming in the pan of water.

     There is not a lot on the chick, it really is lightly seasoned.

     We placed the chicken on a non-stick baking sheet.  It really is looking good and now I am glad that we went for the boneless and skinless breasts. 

     Just 15 minutes later, the sprouts were done and ready to take off the heat.  I could just eat them now with butter and Parmesan cheese, but mom is making us stick with the recipe.  But they are so bright green and smell so good.

     We took out the chicken and turned them once to get a good broil on both sides.  Then they were ready and still juicy looking. 

      We mixed up the cream sauce while the chicken rested for a few minutes.  I have to say the first thing that popped in my mind was Gollum saying.. “Nooooo. You ruins it! Stupid Hobbitses.” 

     Ok, time to plate it.  We will have to work on the fine art of plating.  The one piece of chicken looks so lonely and the few sprouts but I was not too sure about them so I didn’t want a heap of them.

     So after the first bite of chicken, Ivory declared them really good.  I tried a little bit but the Rosemary was just hard for me to eat around, it gets stuck between my teeth so I really don’t like it all that much.  But the chicken was juicy inside and lightly crisp on the outside.  Next we tried the sprouts.  I guess I am a creature of habit, I like them best with garlic butter.  They were good with the cream, just not the best way for me to like them.  Ivory was really quite surprised.  She loved them.  Even though they were made with whole milk for the sauce, she got another spoonful to have.  She also got the rest of my chicken and I had some of the left over sprouts with butter and garlic.  I can’t wait until she can come over again for the weekend and we make something new.  We had a great time laughing and talking about going to college in a few months.