Writer's Workshop: Kitchen Uh-Oh

I've been meaning to catch you all up on my culinary adventures in the kitchen, but I am way behind. And, on top of that, I've been making some scrumptuous new recipes, but I forgot to take pictures! So sorry fellow chefs.

Before I get into the pictures and recipes, however, I'd like to share a little story with you of a not-so-successful incident...

I am not known for my proficiency in the kitchen -- quite the opposite actually -- but I have been trying to teach myself, trying new recipes and my Mom's classics every week. My best friend is in shock wondering where this domestic goddess appeared from.

One night, I was making a new pasta dish that had a lot of components but was pretty basic. Towards the end of all the pasta elements cook time, I threw some garlic toast in the oven with one of the components. {Side note: I may be able to cook, but I'm still trying to get the hang of that elusive timing.} The timer goes off, and the ingredients cooking in the oven are done, but my garlic bread is not.

I decided to speed things along by leaving the toast in the oven on broil. I started mixing all the components with the pasta, and I got so distracted by plating my new dish, I forgot all about the broiling bread. I only remembered when I smelled the dreaded scent of smoke, only to glance in the oven and see two rather significant flames on the oven rack where my two pieces of garlic toast were!

Jed was in the living room watching TV when he was disrupted by me screaming, "There's a fire in the oven!" He came running into the kitchen telling me, "That's not what I want to hear!" I was in a complete panic and was about to grab the fire extinguisher to re-enact the scene from The Santa Clause when Tim Allen extinguishes the Christmas turkey when I decided to just shut the oven off, leave the door closed and see what happened. The flames extinguished themselves in a minute, and I was left with two pitifully black pieces of Texas Toast.

Oh well, the pasta was amazing, and Jed popped two more pieces of garlic bread in the toaster oven. And, I will have that shocking image of two flames in my oven to savor forever. For the record, Jed had smelled the burning five minutes before I screamed, but he figured I had it under control. Yeah right, I'm the distracted chef!

I have had many successes though. Here are just a few of them from the past two months; you can click the name of the dish to visit the recipe.

Chicken with spinach and mushrooms

Pork chops with mustard sauce and glazed carrots

Mushroom chicken (one of my fav dishes Mom made)

Ingredients:

4-6 boneless chicken breasts (I use the thin breasts)

1 stick butter (I didn't say this one was healthy, but it is good!)

1/4-1/2 lb. mushrooms

1/3 cup flour

1 can chicken broth

¼ tsp. salt

2 tbsp. light cream

Instructions:

In a large skillet over medium heat, melt 6 tbsp. butter. Brown chicken on both sides. Remove chicken when done. Add 2 tbsp. butter, sauté mushrooms. Remove mushrooms when done. Add flour and salt, blend until smooth. Gradually stir in chicken broth, and then add cream. Stir constantly until mixture thickens. Add chicken and mushrooms back in, reduce heat and simmer covered for 25 minutes. Stir occasionally. Serve over rice.

This post was inspired by:


Prompt #5: Where was the recipe? Tell the story of a mistake made in the kitchen.