Ingredients that surprise you

[shroomgirl]

Friday night I had friends over and wanted to make Chicken Marabelle....in the past I'd winged it and it was good, but not as spectacular and homey as a friend of mine makes for his french restaurant....
he shared the ingredient list and there were a couple of things I had never added....the question is, are you ever surprised at some ingredient in a recipe, if so what?

Chicken Marabelle.
chicken thighs, red wine, white wine (I used a light fruity red I had open), chicken stock, garlic, onion, shallots, rosemary, thyme, tarragon, tomatoes, black olives (calamata), prunes and brown sugar

The tarragon and brown sugar were the ingredients that had thrown me...made all the difference in the dish.

[shroomgirl]

Last week I needed to make crepes...well I used to make them with AP flour and let the batter rest 3 hours or overnight......then I ran across a recipe that used cake flour and resting time was 10 minutes.

Throwing orange zest in beef daube, gives it a great nuiance.

throwing dried sour cherries into warm chocolate pudding is amazing....the cherries swell and the sour with choc just rocks!

In the Sweet Kitchen, has rice flour in shortbread.

[Pinot]

Not quite an answer to the question , but Blood oranges surprise me . Even though I know what to expect , its always a surprise to see the red flesh and juice.

Nice with Duck , chook , cakes or anything else you would use a normal orange for.

[kuan]

Originally Posted by shroomgirl

Friday night I had friends over and wanted to make Chicken Marabelle....in the past I'd winged it and it was good

There you go. You gotta use other parts of the chicken!

[shroomgirl]

funny guy.....so nothing surprises you anymore? means your not on the edge.