Never to late than never, but boy did Greg just out-do himself for Valentine’s day. He’s not typically the most proficient cook and decided that for this day, he would shoot for the moon and cook this. Greg’s Valentine’s Day dinner menu consisted of stuff I’ve never even heard of, coming home two hours earlier, four courses with appropriate wine pairings for each course and an expresso/Ghiradelli dessert. The last dinner Greg made before this was “Chicken Bakes” by Campbells.
I was floored.
On top of figuring out the painstaking process of the perfect risotto and what a fennel bulb looks like, he told me that there were times when he needed to call for help. One conversation with his mom went, “Mom, where do you get four to five chicken carcasses?” “For what?” “Homemade chicken stock.” Pause. “From the soup aisle in the grocery store out of a box labeled Swanson’s.”
Nice. I really only make my own stock when making soup, otherwise I use various pre-made broths…they work great, but never fully substitute for the real deal…bravo!
I’d probably want to try to make my own stock one day too, but definitely not when I have 3 other complicated courses lined up for that day! And ahh sweet mystery of life, this came up the other day, any tips on getting all courses out on the table at the same temperature, Scotte?
This is such a sweet story! I hope all of our Moms never get the idea of pooling all the stories of “dumb questions we get asked by our adult kids,” cuz I’m sure it would make for a pretty hefty volume! I call and ask cooking, home-repair, and medical questions all the time!
Mom was a real help not only with talking me out of spending half the night monitoring chicken carcuses, but also helping me via phone figure out where half the ingredients are kept in the grocery store. I went in waaaaaaay over my head with that recipe. Really glad it turned out so well.
Greg- I thought you had gone over your head as well, when I heard your story… then I was amused to see the website Selena posted call it an easy V-day dinner.
After skimming most of the article/recipe, it became apparent that their meaning was to make the rest of the evening “easy.”
These are my brain synapses firing to each other:
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Because I just got that after you pointed it out.