Improving on Perfection

Any recipe can be improved. Take Perfectly Roasted Chicken, Rocky Road Brownies and Cottage Cheese Pancakes. They’re favorites in my family, and I have published the recipes before, but these new versions are better.

My original Perfectly Roasted Chicken was moist and perfectly roasted, it’s true, but as a friend remarked, the original seasoning--Dijon mustard--was too strong (and salty) for today’s taste. I decided she was right.

My old Rocky Road Brownies had seemed ideal to me, a bit quaint and Midwestern with their solid marshmallow topping. But a reader who had made all three bar cookie recipes from one of my columns for a wedding party told me the brownies were a little too sweet and hard to cut (although, she assured me, they all disappeared). I looked at them in a new light.

All by myself I rethought the Cottage Cheese Pancakes, which my husband loved. The simple addition of baking soda and cinnamon and the substitution of cake flour for the regular flour made the pancakes lighter and better-tasting.

The reworked recipes follow. Should you find your own improvements, keep me posted.

A small amount of mustard and white wine flavor this version of the perfectly roasted chicken. Consider preparing the chicken the day before and refrigerating it overnight for more penetrating flavor. The mixture is tucked into the space between the skin and the meat--easier to do than it sounds. As the chicken roasts, the wine drains into the pan, providing light cooking juices for making sauce once the fat is skimmed off. High heat (it helps to have a self-cleaning oven) and careful timing yield the juiciest meat.

PERFECTLY ROASTED CHICKEN II

1 (4-pound) chicken, washed, patted dry

3 large cloves garlic, minced

1 large shallot, minced

2 tablespoons minced mixed fresh herbs (especially rosemary and thyme)

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/3 cup white wine

1/4 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground pepper

Handful mixed fresh herbs

Separate skin from meat by inserting inverted teaspoon between skin and meat, starting at breast and working down to thigh.

Combine garlic, shallot, minced herbs, mustard and white wine in processor or blender and process together. Spoon mixture under skin clear down to thigh. Massage skin to disperse mixture evenly. Season surface and cavity with salt and pepper. Place handful of herbs in cavity.

Set chicken, breast side up, on foil-lined shallow roasting pan. (Chicken can be baked immediately or covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated overnight.)

Place pan on oven rack set in lower third of 450-degree oven. Roast until juice runs clear rather than pink when thigh is pierced with knife, about 45 to 50 minutes. Let chicken stand 10 minutes before serving. Makes 4 servings.

Each serving contains about:

610 calories; 357 mg sodium; 204 mg cholesterol; 41 grams fat; 3 grams carbohydrates; 51 grams protein; 0.38 gram fiber.

These brownies are just as candy-like as their predecessors but more dense and chewy. Instead of arranging mini-marshmallows on top of the brownies a few minutes before they are pulled from the oven, this version calls for regular-size marshmallows in the bottom of the prepared pan and covering them with the batter. As a result, they don’t brown too much. Cut brownies smaller if you wish.

ROCKY ROAD BROWNIES

1/2 cup cocoa powder, preferably Dutch-process

3/4 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 3/4 cups sugar

3 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

4 squares unsweetened chocolate, melted, cooled

1 cup milk chocolate chips

1 cup chopped walnuts

12 regular-size marshmallows

Stir together cocoa powder, flour and salt. Set aside.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and beat until thick and lemon-colored, about 2 minutes. Blend in vanilla and chocolate. Slowly add cocoa-flour mixture, mixing until combined. Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts.

Arrange marshmallows on sides in generously buttered and floured 13x9-inch pan, spacing evenly and allowing 1 1/2-inch border between marshmallows and sides of pan. Spoon some thick batter over marshmallows, covering them as much as possible. Evenly fill in center of pan with remaining batter. (Do not add batter to space between marshmallows and sides of pan--batter will spread during baking.)

Place pan on rack in center of 350-degree oven. Bake until wood pick inserted in center comes out moist from melted chocolate (not batter), about 25 minutes. Let cool completely on rack. Cut into 12 (2 1/2-inch) squares.

Refrigerate until chilled. Using wide metal spatula, carefully transfer brownies to serving platter. (Or wrap airtight and store in refrigerator up to 1 day or freeze up to 3 months.) Serve chilled or at room temperature. Makes 12 brownies.

Each serving contains about:

490 calories; 91 mg sodium; 87 mg cholesterol; 29 grams fat; 55 grams carbohydrates; 7 grams protein; 0.68 gram fiber.

It’s hard to tell there is cottage cheese in these high-protein pancakes once it’s pureed into the batter. The pancakes taste great plain, but blueberries or chopped apples can be added to batter.

COTTAGE CHEESE PANCAKES

1 cup low-fat cottage cheese

2 egg whites

1/2 cup cake flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Butter

Warm maple syrup

Combine cottage cheese, egg whites, cake flour, sugar, cinnamon and baking soda in food processor or blender and process until smooth.

Brush griddle with small pat butter. Heat until hot. Spoon batter onto griddle, allowing 2 tablespoons batter per 3-inch pancake, leaving 2 inches between each. Cook over medium heat until bubbly on top, then turn and brown other side, cooking 4 minutes total.

Keep cooked pancakes warm in 200-degree oven while remaining pancakes are cooked. Brush griddle with more butter as needed. Serve with warm maple syrup. Makes 3 servings, about 9 (5-inch-diameter) pancakes.

Each serving contains about:

215 calories; 418 mg sodium; 24 mg cholesterol; 9 grams fat; 21 grams carbohydrates; 13 grams protein; 0.04 gram fiber.

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