In December of 2009, I became vegetarian. My friend and partner Dipti is still mad at me as i write this. 'Who starts a food related company and then stops eating half of all food?' Good point. But its only for a year and she will come around.
March 14, 2010 I have been talking food, thinking food, look like a whale and came to the realisation that unless I start to cook, I am making a glass ceiling. When i say learn to cook - anything more than coffee (from the machine) is a feat. My daughter hates my cooking and loving what i make is meant to be a part of her job description.
I decided to make:
Pasta Arabiate - more tomato than cheese
Grilled Chicken in a Garlic Rosemary sauce (from a bottle *confession*)
Feta and belle pepper salad with dijon mustard (salad I actually can throw together alright)
Bachelors Slim a Soup - (I admitted it, realisation is the first step of improvement!!!)
The salad was not hard. Chopped up the feta and peppers and added a heaped tsp of french mustard. toss and chill in refrigerator.
After thawing filets of chicken breast, i put a quarter of a cup of sauce in the bowl with it and left it for a couple of hours. After which i let it further marinate in the fridge. NOTE TO SELF: Taste ready to cook sauce before using to see if you like the flavour to begin with.
Since I had gotten here, I decided to take out my recently purchased but not yet considered, copy of Julie and Julia and put it in my swimming bag. Instead of swimming with Neeraj and Kyra, I lay on a sun bed and read. The hideously bland Veg burger I ordered at the JW Marriott poolside only reinforced my belief that cooking was my way to save my taste buds.
Neeraj is encouraging. He frowns and says, "I think its a really good thought" I could have just asked him if I should become a buddhist monk and he would say exactly that. Adding that it was the vegetarianism driving me to learn to cook, got me an additional nod. (The pensive look I attributed to his understanding that he would be at the receiving end of this new hobby.)
When it came to lightly grilling in a pan, I used extra virgin (yes, I have all this stuff and never use it!) olive oil and put the filets in, on a light flame, turning occasionally. Thankfully I asked my husband Neeraj to try a piece. Poor man - its not done. infact quite rare. Needs spice or you know flavour! ( I didn't know I was to hear the same words again in 20mins from the third member of our family)
When in doubt, I use garlic. I am ashamed to admit it, but I do. So I did. I finely chopped two cloves, allowed them to brown in the juices of the chicken, squishing the cloves as I went along and then added the grilled filets back in the pan. It worked to some extent but the flavour "was on the surface".
Over cooked the pasta in all my chicken making enthusiasm. Seinfeld in the background may also have made me lose track of time. Also thought a tiny bit of cheese sauce mix and a timy bit of pasta sauce from a jar should make lots of flavour. Nope. My 5 year old said, and I quote, " this has no taste. It tastes of nothing." More garlic, more pasta sauce, Maggi All Purpose Seasoning, fresh ground pepper and salt later, she ate it. Not happily. I am taking the damn pasta in my lunch box. Neeraj is eating fruit and Kyra said PBJ will be fine.
Day 1 is meant to be a disaster. Today I will make a soup.
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