Chicken Under a Brick

August 2026

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, March 2026

It has been several months since my last post, but for good reason: our kitchen underwent a complete renovation. Now that the dust has settled, I am thoroughly enjoying being back in the space and putting the new setup to work with new recipes.

A recent issue of Cook’s Illustrated featured a Tuscan-style roast chicken that caught my eye. The technique calls for spatchcocking (butterflying) a four-pound chicken and weighing it down during cooking to speed up the process. Naturally, I had to test if it actually streamlined the cooking time as promised.

The Process

First, I removed the backbone from a four-pound chicken and flattened it by pressing firmly on the breastbone. I loosened the skin and salted the flesh underneath. Next, I heated oil in a skillet until just smoking, then laid the chicken skin-side down, weighing it down with a cast-iron Dutch oven (no bricks on hand today!).

After five minutes on the stovetop, the entire setup—skillet, chicken, and Dutch oven—went into a 400°F oven. Twenty minutes later, I removed the Dutch oven, flipped the chicken over, and let it finish roasting until the thickest part of the breast reached 150°F.

While the chicken roasted, I whipped up a quick sauce using fresh lemon zest and juice, fresh parsley and  rosemary, mustard, garlic, and black pepper. The sauce was finished by adding some of the drippings from the chicken once it was done. My only tweak to the original recipe was omitting the red pepper flakes.

The Verdict

From prep to placing the chicken in the oven took just 20 minutes, with the total time from start to finish clocking in at a little over an hour.

The results were excellent. The chicken was tender and remarkably juicy across four separate dinners for two. The herb-lemon sauce added a vibrant, tangy lift that complemented the roasted flavor perfectly. If you are looking for a efficient, straightforward way to prep high-quality meals for the week, this technique is well worth adding to your routine.

Skillet-Roasted Chicken Breasts

February 2026

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, January 2026

I’m almost always up for trying a simple chicken recipe, and this one fits the bill—easy enough for a weeknight and paired with a flavorful pan sauce made from pantry staples.

I halved the recipe for the two of us and substituted granulated garlic for fresh. Two bone-in breasts were seasoned with kosher salt under the skin, which I pricked to help render the fat before lightly spraying with oil. I started them skin side down on the stovetop until well browned, then flipped and finished them in a 325° oven to 160° internal temperature.

After removing the chicken, I returned the skillet to the heat and cooked the juices until they formed a dark fond. Butter and granulated garlic went in, followed by orange zest and thyme. Once fragrant, I stirred in orange juice and whole-grain mustard. Off heat, I added another strip of zest and a few fresh thyme sprigs. The chicken was removed from the bones, sliced, and served with the sauce. Total time was just under an hour.

The dish lived up to expectations. The chicken was tender and the sauce a nice complement, though the mustard was the dominant flavor. Halving the recipe gave us dinner for two nights. I’d make it again—perhaps trying the lime-hoisin or pineapple-cilantro variations next time.

Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies

February 2026

Recipe from King Arthur Baking Company

My go-to recipe for chocolate chip cookies has a rich flavor from browned butter. I've tried other recipes, too, but the ATK recipe for "Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies" is the one I keep returning to. It is reasonably easy to execute and the cookies are very good. However, I still occasionally try new recipes and this is one such trial using a King Arthur recipe. 

In the bowl of a stand mixer, light brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter, vegetable shortening, salt, vanilla extract, vinegar, and baking soda were combined and beaten until smooth and creamy. I omitted the optional almond extract though this might be interesting to try. A large egg was beaten into the mixture then flour and chips were mixed in. The recipe specified a range of 12-16 ounces for the chips, I used 14. The cookies were dropped onto a baking pan using a #30 portioning scoop (about 2 tablespoons), my favored size for cookies, and baked in a 375° oven. I also made a batch using a smaller #60 scoop (about 1 tablespoon). The recipe made 24 of the larger cookies plus 17 of the smaller ones. Total time was 75 minutes.

These are good cookies. At first I missed the nutty brown butter flavor but I enjoyed how crispy these cookies are. In part his is because they were over baked, not so much to have given them a bitter taste but enough so there is little to no chewy cookie. The extra chocolate chips didn't hurt. The recipe said to use a tablespoon scoop and in 36 minutes you would have 36 cookies. My experience did not match either of these expectations, but the cookies are still pretty good. I might try them again, perhaps with the almond extract and baking for a shorter time.

Bacon and Gruyère Egg Bites

 February 2026

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, January 2026

I was not familiar with egg bites until reading about this recipe. Apparently they are a popular and widespread breakfast item that you can get in coffee shops or buy frozen in supermarkets and big box stores. Diane usually has eggs for her brunch so it seemed a natural item to try as it could make for a convenient meal for her.

Bacon was chopped, cooked until crisp, and transferred to a paper towel-lined plate. Next, cottage cheese was processed in a blender. Our blender did not do a particularly good job with the thick cheese. I had to stir it some so it would blend and I added an egg sooner than specified in the recipe to provide some added liquid. The creamy mixture was poured into a large bowl and 11 eggs and salt were added then whisked until well combined. Gruyère, which had been grated on the large holes of a box grater, and the bacon were distributed among 12 muffin cups that had been sprayed with vegetable oil. The egg mixture was added and stirred with chopsticks. The muffin tin was placed on a rimmed baking sheet in a 325° oven and the baking sheet was filled with boiling water. The eggs were baked to an internal temperature of 170°. Total preparation time was about 70 minutes.

The egg bites were good and worth making again. They kept reasonably well in the refrigerator for brunches and other breakfast-for-dinner meals; a short re-heating in the microwave was all that was needed to serve them. While good they were a little bland. The cheese flavor was subtle and they would have benefitted from some chives or scallions. Indeed, the recipe includes a long list of other foods–cheeses, meats, vegetables, herbs–that could be added to the egg bites depending on what you might have on hand. The bacon tended to sink to the bottom so perhaps some more vigorous stirring was needed.