Adventures in Cooking

I'm pretty confident in my baking abilities, but not so much in my cooking abilities. I have no problem whipping up a cheesecake, some brownies, cookies, biscotti, cakes, muffins, pies, breads, etc., but when it comes to putting a meal on the table, I tend to rely on a rather short list of simple meals that don't require much effort. I've found that when I thumb through a cookbook, I tend to skip over any recipe that looks the least bit difficult, and don't really ever bother trying anything new. So, in the spirit of the approaching New Year, I think I'll try something different. Rather than make the ever-predictable resolution to lose weight, exercise, etc., I will instead embark on a mission to become more daring in the kitchen. I decided to jump right in there this evening, when I cracked open my brand new copy of Stonewall Kitchen Favorites (thanks, Mum and Dad!). I'm embarrassed to admit that in all my 35 years, I've never once prepared roast chicken. I'm not sure why. So, tonight I made Best Roast Chicken with Roasted Garlic-Herb Butter. Oh. My. Goodness. For one thing, it was rather easy to make. I followed the recipe exactly, and the chicken came out perfectly - - so tender, it literally fell of the bone. The first step was to make the garlic butter, which involved roasting some garlic cloves, then mashing them with butter and herbs. After loosening the skin from the bird a bit, you "massage" the butter into the meat, and then spread the rest over the outside of the bird. Yum. Tomorrow, I'll boil down the carcass and make some chicken broth, which will then become chicken soup for Steve's lunches next week. My plan is to try one new recipe each week. I'm pretty sure I'll be relying on Stonewall Kitchen Favorites for a while - - it is full of great recipes. So, stay tuned for more adventures in cooking!