Induction into the Recipe Book

Hello all!

My first recipe is here!  To begin,  I want to give credit where credit is due.  The dish I'm about to share is based on a recipe by Rachel Ray called Israeli Spice Chicken.

As you may have noticed, the rub recipe calls for quite a few spices that are rarely, if ever, used in American cooking.  I'm not quite sure what makes it "Israeli" besides Kosher salt.  In any event, this was one of the first meals my sister served when I moved in with her and my brother-in-law all those years ago when I first began seminary and first met my fiance Chris.  Despite the spiciness, I loved this dish from the get go.  Recently, I cooked it for Chris.

Now, this past Christmas, Chris and I were gifted with a sweet recipe book from his mom and step dad.  This means no guessing for me about what my future husband will want to eat for dinner.  If he's craving it, it's probably in that recipe book!  Everything his mom used to make and that he loves at my fingertips.  An absolutely invaluable tool and an extremely thoughtful gift.

Also a LOT to live up to!

So I was really putting myself out on a limb when my first try at Israeli Spice Chicken was also the first time that Chris tried it.  I LOVE this stuff, and I wanted Chris to love it too.  But, as I said, the spice combination is not your normal American stuff, and Chris is sort of a chicken nugget and fries with the occasional taco kind of guy.   At least I had the chicken thing going in my favor.  That and some modifications to the original recipe.  Here's what I, and my sister, do with Ms. Ray's ideas.

1. Prepare rub as directed, coat and grill chicken as directed.  I pan grilled mine, but my sister uses a George Foreman.

2. The relish and greens could be fun to try someday, but some cooked white rice, green leafy lettuce, and low fat creamy Caesar dressing compliment the chicken perfectly.  Or in Chris's case, a little peppercorn ranch under the rice, then a little Caesar on top of the chicken.

3. No need for warm pitas, yummy as they are. Flour tortillas are a little less bulky, easier to warm in the leftover oil rather than microwave or toaster oven, and cheaper too!  Wrap it all up together and enjoy!

And Chris did enjoy it!  So much so that the recipe will be written on a note-card and placed in the recipe book in the near future.  I'm rather proud of the place my cooking, and my family's tastes, has earned amongst the tastes of his childhood.  Turns out he always wanted to add the things we enjoy together to that lovely book.  Call me a crazy foody, but the fact that he expects to put our cooking in the same category as what his momma makes speaks love to me!  I'm looking forward to a lifetime of recipes to come!

Shalom, everybody, and enjoy!

Why the Kitchen?

Growing up, the kitchen was the center of the house.  Mealtimes, game times, and all good times revolved around it.  At any party, the biggest gaggle of people hovered in the kitchen.  Precious moments between me and each of my parents happened in the kitchen.  My sister and I grew up as we experimented with recipes in the kitchen.  And oh, the conversations!  Literature, theology, art, war, peace, music; we tossed about every topic in the warmth and security of our own kitchen.  And no matter how the conversation froze out or boiled over, we sat down together at the same level table to enjoy a meal every evening. Among the edible creations, I was created.  Little by little, day by day, we each were shaped, both physically and spiritually, in the kitchen.

So it is in that warm and tender tradition that I welcome you, dear reader and friend, to my kitchen.  Here you'll find recipes that will strengthen your skill while not challenging your pocket book or your arteries (too much), and conversations to both challenge and strengthen your mind and spirit.  At least once a week you'll find out what's cooking in my world, and I invite you to share what's cooking in yours!

Let us strive to be created and shaped by sharing conversation with each other even as we create and shape the food we share.