My Food Test Kitchen: Outstanding Weeknight Dinner

The Objective

Food is a hobby for me. It is not just fuel. It can be art and it can be flavor. It can make my day and, many days, is the highlight. As with anything, you can't get better without practicing and reflection.

We don't always know how well a recipe or idea will turn out. In my opinion, cooking is as much about the experience as the food. Exploring techniques and ingredients makes our culinary experiences interesting. My expectation is to report on recipes I try. The collection of magazine recipes (Bon Appetit, Cooking Light, Everyday Food, etc.) and cookbooks has grown over the past several months without using any of them. I would be remiss if I did not give them the opportunity to wow me. That said, the objective of this blog is simple: to cook food -at least 1 recipe per week. The complexity of the recipes reviewed in this blog will range and, at times, seem completely random.

Although my objective is plain, I hope to change the pace now and then with adding a few "special features" related to food or food events.

I welcome your comments and critiques and hope you enjoy my experience as much as I do.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Outstanding Weeknight Dinner

These were two new recipes for us and both were excellent in flavor. Great homely food for a chilly evening! Heavy in mise en place, but worth the effort!

I substituted balsamic vinegar in the sauce for the tomatoes and white wine vinegar for the lemon juice in the couscous (a reasonable substitution for the acid)

We have a couple of probe thermometers that we use to cook meat and it turns out the most delicious, juiciest chicken. Definitely worth the investment!

Chicken With Herb-Roasted Tomatoes And Pan Sauce: http://m.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Chicken-with-Herb-Roasted-Tomatoes-and-Pan-Sauce-51108240

Israeli Couscous With Asparagus, Peas, And Sugar Snaps:
http://m.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Israeli-Couscous-with-Asparagus-Peas-and-Sugar-Snaps-359410

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Recipe Assessment Criteria

Whenever you decide to grade or assess something, it is good to have a set of criteria on which to do that; it provides some structure to the task. With this current endeavor, I have decided on a few categories to judge a given recipe*:

Difficulty: How easy was the recipe to make? Difficulty will be characterized as Easy,Medium or Hard. This category is with regards to cooking techniques with an assumption that the cook has a enough experience in the kitchen to know the difference between a onion and a potato or a slotted spoon and a whisk.

Accessibility: How easily can the ingredients be obtained? Accessibility will be characterized as Common, Limited Specialty (30% or less of ingredients from specialty store), or Specialty (greater than 30% of ingredients from specialty store). Also, comments will be included on the necessity of specialty tools required to complete the dish.

Visual Appeal: Is the finished dish/meal attractive to look at? Is it enticing to eat. This category will be a reflection on the color and arrangement of the food and garnishes.

Overall Taste: This category will be a reflection on the taste of the food. Would I eat it again?

Overall Experience: This category will serve as a reflection on the cooking experience, as a whole. *The right to amend the aforementioned criteria is reserved for the proprietor of this project.