OcUK Christmas cooking competition - Judging with Jonny69

[Jonny69]

MKS2005 - Goat’s cheese, red onion & thyme stuffed chicken thighs wrapped in puff pastry with creamy squash & potato mash and buttered cabbage.

This is another chicken en croute, this time the chicken is stuffed with goat's cheese and red onions softened with thyme. This is served with potato and squash mash with cream and blanched cabbage quickly sautéed in butter. Look at me using all posh language, I almost sound like I know what I'm doing here.

I already had most of the ingredients prepared so I just had to wrap it up and cook it. Here's my rendition of the finished article:

 

[Burnsy2023]

Yey, email me your final results when you're done and I'll announce a winner

Burnsy

 

[mks2005]

Yey, email me your final results when you're done and I'll announce a winner

Burnsy

Suspense... too much to bear...

Hope you enjoyed it Jonny!

 

[Jonny69]

Yey, email me your final results when you're done and I'll announce a winner

Burnsy

Hold on, got comments to make yet. Just got to wait until the boss isn't looking again...

 

[Jonny69]

My thoughts on MKS's food...

Another well presented dish that smelled fantastic when cooking and I was ravenous by the time it was time to eat. I had to lightly lubricate my ring while serving the mash to get it that round

The chicken flavour comes through well in the croute and is enhanced by the thyme and goats cheese, ingredients that all work together. I couldn't taste the onion at all so I wondered if it was really needed in there, I think it could be simplified to just goat's cheese and thyme and still be as good but be simpler to cook. The mash was very good, in fact I had extra mash I liked it that much. However, the potato in the mash changes the texture and the flavour and in my opinion I felt the lighter nature of a squash-only mash worked a bit better with the chicken, but only just. The dish had a very slight lack of depth and could have been enhanced with a sauce, perhaps by using the onions to make a sweet sauce which would work with the goat's cheese. Delicious plate of food though, and again I cleared the plate

It's been interesting eating similar meals two nights in a row because you can really pick up the differences. It's definitely enhanced my palate and given me some new ideas and now I've got to choose between the two which is going to be a difficult choice

 

[Makunouchi]

I had to lightly lubricate my ring

Oh now come on, you're killing me here.

 

[Stinky]

the suspense is unbearable