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| Dijon-Baked Chicken with Rice and Broccoli |
You would think that learning how to cook something new might be a breeze. But since I seem to be kitchen-challenged, it was actually a little stressful. I picked this menu because I thought that it was a meal that Brando, Jordan and Bill might try without too much complaining. Those three are often not up to trying new foods. I was right about the first two, but Bill surprised me and seemed to enjoy the meal.
Fixing an Asian meal and living in Charleston, Illinois do not necessarily mesh. Some of the ingredients just don't exist in this town. I was able to buy most of the ingredients here, though, including napa cabbage and bok choy. I'll bet I
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| Dang Cold Asian Noodle Salad |
have grocery shopped at Wal-Mart twice a week for the last 40 years and didn't realize that napa cabbage and bok choy was in the produce aisle! My eyes just slid right past those to the traditional broccoli, asparagus, green beans, etc. I have also never purchased rice wine vinegar, which I found on the shelf. But who ever heard of hoisin sauce or soba noodles or hot chili oil? Bill and I had to make a trip to Champaign to the Green Onion, an Asian supermarket, for these ingredients. And that presented another problem. After wandering up and down the aisles and trying to figure out the products by the pictures on the front of the packages, we finally realized that the English name was printed underneath each item.
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| Thai Fried Bananas |
Anyway, the meal ended up being pretty easy to prepare. I marinated the chicken the night before (even after enjoying a Russian Sistka martini); and julienned the vegetables after Church this morning. I made the dressing for the salad while the chicken and rice were in the oven; and the Thai fried bananas just took 5 minutes while everyone else was helping to clear the table. Just like I knew what I was doing!! In case anyone is interested, the recipes are all found at
www.foodnetwork.com Now...what to do with all those bottles of sauces and oils that I bought that are still practically full. Maybe I'll have to experiment with other Asian dishes some day.
