Indian Grilled Chicken

I like to incorporate foods with Indian flavors at least once a week, so that Ram has a taste of home (or something close to it). I found the inspiration for this dish on hannaford.com, where you can select from a number of recipes.

This dish is Indian grilled chicken. I used my George Foreman grill, which can burn the outside of whatever is on the grill, unless I open the cover a few minutes into grilling. The heating surfaces, I find, are actually too hot, and the outside of food cooks significantly faster than the inside. That said, I used the George Foreman grill so I could achieve the illusion of grilling. (For the record, the illusion pales in comparison to actually grilling.)

I marinaded this chicken in a mixture of plain yogurt and two tablespoons each of paprika, red chili powder, black pepper, and tumeric. I also threw in some cumin seeds and minced garlic and ginger. I put all of this in a large storage bag and threw in the chicken. I smooshed it (that's a technical term) around in the bag, coating all of the chicken, and kept the bag in the refrigerator. (To prevent potential leaking, I always put bags of meat/marinade in a container, like a shallow pan or a bowl.)

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I grilled the meat with the lid closed for a few minutes. I removed the lid and let it continue cooking until it passed the firm-to-the-touch test (about twenty-five or thirty minutes).

The carrots were mixed with some cilantro, onion, and lemon juice. I did let them marinate, since I had all day to prepare the meal, but they could be served immediately. If you're dying for a starch of some kind, basmati rice or even couscous would be great. We were going carb-free for the night, so I served this as-is. If you're in the mood for Indian food (or want to give it a first try), this is an easy-to-prepare dish that uses the spices without requiring the traditional cooking methods that, frankly, so few of us know anyway. I hope you enjoy with fork in hand.

Taco Salad

I love a good salad. To me, a good salad is all about flavors and textures. I can be happy with a bowl of romaine, as long as the dressing is one of my favorites. But I also love a salad of which every bite is a new combination of textures and flavors. As you know, I'm currently in the business of cramming as much fiber as possible into my menus, and a hearty salad is a great way to do that. I'm also in the business of making economical use of everything in my kitchen, and this taco salad (minus the shell) was the delicious result.

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I started with a quarter pound of turkey meat, which was leftover and frozen after turkey burgers a week before. I browned the turkey meat with some sliced onions, but I could tell it needed a little sustenance. I added a can of black beans, which I drained thoroughly. (Who needs the liquid the beans are packed in? It's loaded with salt and preservatives!) I added a little water, then I took the easy way out on this one (harkening back to Sandra Lee's old Food Network show "Semi-Homemade"); I used a fajita seasoning packet to flavor the meat. I chose the Ortega packet, which I mention for one reason: it was delicious! There had to be some kind of smoke flavoring in it, because it tasted as though the meat/beans had been smoking over pungent wood all day. Fantastic flavor.

Drooling aside, the rest of the meal was very simple. I loaded our plates with lettuce, added onions, (for Ram) tomatoes, (for me) a tiny bit of mozzarella cheese. I piled on portion of the meat, bean, and onion mixture, and I drizzled a little salsa over the top. The combination of flavors and textures was insanely good. For a simple and healthy salad, the result was totally satisfying.

If we had had tortilla chips on hand, I would have crumbled a few on top. But we didn't miss the minimal flavor a taco shell or chips would have added. Besides, the pay-off for leaving off the shells was a few less calories entering our bodies. I'll take all the help I can get!

If you're in the mood for salad that's kicked up a notch or two, give this a try. I promise you'll be happy as you dine with fork in hand.

Sweet & Sour Chicken

On Saturday, I started to panic (internally) a little. My tightly budgeted grocery list, purchased on Monday, was starting to thin out, and I was concerned that I didn't have anything to make for dinner on Sunday. I started to think about the handful of things I had still left in the refrigerator, and I decided that I'd keep it simple: baked chicken breast with a couple of fibrous sides.

Taking advantage of one of the sauces my co-workers gifted me back in June, I marinaded two chicken breasts (I took them off the bone) in sweet and sour sauce. I cooked them, like usual, on a rack atop a cookie sheet. I love that this allows the fat to drip away and the heat to circulate around the meat. After a short time marinading (even twenty minutes is acceptable, when you're trying to keep it quick), I put the chicken in the oven at 350-degrees for about 25 minutes. I use the old "press on the meat" trick to determine when it's done. You've probably seen chefs do this before: make a tight fist, looking at your down-turned thumb. Press the skin just above the last thumb knuckle. You should feel that it's firm with a slight give. If your chicken feels like that, it's cooked through. Of course, chefs also recommend letting your meat rest after taking it out of the oven, which lets the juices redistribute and the meat carry-over cook for a bit. These tricks really do work. I use them all the time, and I rarely overcook or undercook a piece of chicken.

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All that said, I cooked the meat for about 25 minutes, until I felt that familiar firmness. In the meantime, I threw some sliced potatoes in the oven as well. Because I also cooked the potatoes on the oven rack, I didn't bother to toss them in olive oil (which you would normally do to keep them from sticking to the pan). I just sprinkled them with garlic powder and a little dried cilantro. This means I added zero oil and zero salt to the potatoes-- and they were tasty!

The second side was my favorite part of the meal, actually. I added a tablespoon of olive oil to a frying pan, then threw in two handfuls of frozen corn, half a really finely diced onion, and a small head of broccoli, sliced and diced super-small as well. I saw Michael Voltaggio prepare broccoli in a similar way on Top Chef last season, and it looked great-- and easy! The small bits of broccoli mixed so well with the corn and onion, and some bits of the mixture caught on, giving the whole thing a delicious, rustic flavor. I loved every bite-- and saved the side dish for last so I could savor it.

This meal was borne out of desperation, but necessity is the mother of invention, right? I am convinced that if we use our imaginations (and, usually, a little more advanced planning), we can create home-cooked meals and avoid that drive-thru nonsense we all know we shouldn't be eating. But I know you're busy. This meal took thirty minutes to cook, plus twenty minutes of marinading (skip this step if you really want to, and glaze the chicken a couple times as it's baking), plus ten minutes of clean-up. That's one hour total. You can do it! I'll keep churning out easy-to-make, healthful, and budget-conscious meals if you'll keep giving them a try-- with fork in hand.

Grammy's Potato Salad

When I think of summer foods, I inevitably think of my grandmother's potato salad. It's one of those dishes that can never be replicated, despite the fact that I have helped her craft it many times. It comes, I think, from some pocket of the universe where my Gram's cooking (of a handful of things) is superior to all. I'm sure you, too, have a family recipe that comes from the same place: your mom's meatballs or your grandfather's roast turkey.

When I think about Gram's potato salad from a foodie point-of-view, I think what I appreciate most is its simplicity. In fact, when I eat other potato salads (the ones that pale in comparison), they usually have too much stuff in them: mustard, relish, chopped boiled eggs, ham, peas, etc, etc. Gram's recipe (served alongside my spicy chicken legs) contains three ingredients: potatoes, onions, and Miracle Whip (never salad dressing or mayo).

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Step one involves peeling and chopping a pile of potatoes (I figured about 1.5 per person), boiling them until they're fork-tender but not mushy (a tough balance), and draining them. Gram also dumped her drained potatoes into a massive yellow bowl and added uncooked diced onion right away. She would let the potatoes cool for a little while (maybe an hour), but she prefers her potato salad a little warm. She adds salad dressing and mixes just until the dressing is distributed. When we were kids, she would plate it up on a bed of lettuce, surrounded by tomato slices, cucumber rounds, and boiled eggs cut vertically and into fourths. She never mixed any of that stuff in, of course mindful that some of us didn't like everything. That's Gram, making sure everyone is fed and gets what they want.

I think that's what makes some cooking more magical than others. When it's crafted with love and feels special, when it's a gift, not an obligation, the food is elevated somehow. I riffed on Gram's classic by leaving on the peels and using mayonnaise and serving it cold. But the idea is the same: keep it simple, keep it tasty, and keep it made with love. It's a dish I long to eat with fork in hand.

Chicken Cacciatore

When I was a kid, my mom once made something that sounded awfully fancy to my childish ears: chicken cacciatore. Little did I know the classic dish was really very simple. I decided to add it to the menu last week because I could cram in a lot of fiber, and I knew it was another opportunity to use the quick-fix side dish miracle product: couscous.

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To make the chicken cacciatore, I started with some oil in a hot pan (chicken fryer, again). I added chunks of chicken breast and sprinkled in freshly cracked black pepper and a tablespoon or so of rosemary. The rosemary, for those of you with limited pantries, was something I happened to have on hand, but any Italian spice will do. Oregano, basil, and parsley would be fantastic, for example. I let the chicken brown on all sides, and I added in large chunks of onion and green pepper. I'm not personally a fan of cooked green peppers, but Ram loves them, and they are traditional components of this dish. I let the vegetables start to cook down and soften and then added two 16-ounce cans of stewed tomatoes.

For what it's worth, I am obsessed with cooked tomatoes. The stewed were heavenly. When they hit the pan, I reduced the heat and covered the pan so that all of the components could work together. About twenty minutes later, it was ready to plate. It's truly that simple. Certainly this dish would be delicious over egg noodles or a side of pasta, but couscous is a great (and way simple) variation. In this case, I boiled a cup-and-a-quarter of water, then turned off the heat and added a cup of couscous grains and a handful of frozen peas. I covered the concoction and let the grains soak in the water for five minutes. With a fluff, the couscous was ready. The peas were an easy way to add fiber and flavor-- and the color was electric!

This dish was a Ram-pleaser, and it was extremely easy. If you're looking for something that's quick to pull together and that can please almost any palate, give this a try! It's a classic Italian dish that's delicious to eat with fork in hand.

The Menu

I sat down this morning, after clipping coupons and reading the Hannaford weekly flier online, to create my menu for the week. Here's the plan:

*Indian-Spiced Chicken with Carrot Salad
*Vegetable Lasagna with Squash and Spinach
*Grilled Chicken and Mojito Sauce, Blackened Corn, and Cucumbers
*Quesadillas with Rice and Beans
*Roasted Tomato and Broccoli-Stuffed Chicken with Egg Noodles
*Turkey Burger with Butternut Squash Soup
*Chicken Tikka

Strap on your bibs, readers. It's going to be a delicious week!

Indian Curry

When I married an Indian man, I understood that one big responsibility I newly shouldered was to learn how to cook Indian food. And if there's one thing that identifies a dish as Indian, it is the spices. Generally speaking, Indian cooking relies on a set of techniques and a plethora of flavors which, combined in a variety of ways, creates the full repertoire of Indian dishes.

When Ram talks about Indian cooking, he speaks in generalities. He speaks of curry and means any dish with a gravy of some kind. He speaks of breads and can mean paratha, roti, naan, or chapati. For me, this is helpful. I'm not a person who cooks by-the-(recipe)-book, so knowing that I can create a dish that hits all the right flavor notes without sacrificing a coveted family recipe allows me the freedom to attempt Indian meals.

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This dish is a curry (again, just a bunch of stuff with some gravy). It features potatoes and green beans, a tomato-based sauce, and a foundation of long-sauteed onions reducing in a bevvy of spices. Because this is the best Indian entree I've cooked thusfar, I thought it was time to share a little of what I did right to make do-it-yourself Indian food a little less intimidating.

I started this dish in a wide-bottom pan (the handy dandy chicken fryer, again) by pouring in a few tablespoons of canola oil. I added a couple tablespoons of cumin seeds, black pepper, tumeric, and garlic powder. I let those cook together in the oil until the mixture started to darken. In the meantime, I chopped three onions. I know it sounds excessive; believe me, when I looked at the pile, it looked excessive, too. But most Indian chefs will tell you that Indians use little-to-nothing to thicken their dishes. The onions are cooked in copious amounts and for a copious amount of time, and their texture becomes one that thickens the dish without the use of flour or cornstarch.

I added the onions to the spice mixture, along with some finely chopped ginger. I love ginger, but taking a bite into a big chunk of the root overwhelms the palette. I took some care to mince it. I let the onions work in the pan, over medium-to-low heat for probably twenty minutes or so. I stirred occasionally to ensure that they didn't catch on, but otherwise, I let them do their thing. Their 'thing' is to release their juices and sweeten, adding a second layer of flavor. When the onions were dark and thick, I added about two cups of tomato sauce. In this case, again because I'm striving for frugal as well as flavor, I used Hunt's tomato sauce, garlic and onion variety. I stirred it into the onion mixture and let it mingle for a few minutes. Then, I added some chunks of potato and a couple handsful of frozen green beans. I mixed them in, added a half-cup of water, and covered the pan. I let all of this come together, still over low-to-medium heat, for another twenty minutes.

Now, I recently watched an episode of Throwdown with Bobby Flay where he challenged a woman who makes delicious chicken tikka. The expert (not Bobby Flay) mentioned that it's very important to add masala seasoning at the end of the cooking process, something I hadn't known until that moment. So I took her advice, and just a couple minutes before serving, I added a few tablespoons of garam masala. Masala is the quintessential Indian spice. When you eat Indian food, you can tell it's Indian food, primarily, I think, because of the masala. So I added it at the end and served just a couple minutes later, with homemade paratha. Ram's response: "Wow!"

I must've done something right.

This was a successful Indian curry. The chicken tikka I mentioned above is essentially the exact same recipe but with chicken chunks added at the time I added potatoes and green beans. Sincerely that easy.

I find cooking Indian food to be intimidating, primarily because I know somewhere deep inside, Ram is comparing it to the stuff he eats in his mother's kitchen. Frankly, I know better than to think I can compare to that. It's the same curse that befalls potato salad, which, for me, never tastes as good as when my Gram makes it. That said, the steps required for making an Indian curry are simple. You can purchase the spices (I'm fairly certain) at most grocery stores, and the other ingredients are likely sitting in your kitchen as I type. If you're willing to invest a little time in sauteing onions, you, too, can eat Indian food with fork in hand.

Homemade Granola

I have a confession to make: I love to snack. I could probably just snack all day and forgo traditional meals and mealtimes. However, since snacking is much-maligned and generally not accepted as a healthy relationship with food, I control my snacking as much as I can. And when I snack, I try to choose healthy alternatives. A couple years ago, I started making my own granola because I found that granola in the store was a) too expensive and b) didn't suit my tastebuds. I saw a chef on Food Network make granola one day, and it looked easy. So, with no recipe in hand, I set out to make my own granola.

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I start with a base of oatmeal, the quick-cook kind that comes in the cardboard, cylindrical container. I pour a couple cups of dry oatmeal into a large bowl and set it aside while I get together my "wet ingredients."

The "wet ingredients" are (in a small saucepan): 1/3 cup of water, a few tablespoons of honey, a couple tablespoons of brown sugar, some Craisins (because I am not a fan of raisins but love dried cranberries), a handful (or two) of nuts (I use walnuts or almonds), and a tablespoon of cinnamon. I let this come to a boil over very low heat, letting the sugar and honey reduce a bit. When I can smell the Craisins and cinnamon wafting from the pan, I add the whole thing to the oatmeal and mix to incorporate, making sure all of the oatmeal is wet by the saucepan's contents. This takes a minute or so of mixing.

Next, I spread the mixture out on a baking sheet (which I spray to keep everything from sticking) and place in a pre-heated 350-degree oven. Now, I prefer a chunky granola, so I try not to work the mixture too much when I put it on the pan. But if you prefer a loose granola, spread it out until it reaches the size and texture you like. Baking takes maybe twenty minutes; just keep an eye on it to be sure that the smaller pieces don't burn. I usually give it a stir about half-way through. You'll know it's done when the granola has started to turn light brown and has started to dry out. When I pull it out of the oven, I let it cool on the countertop for a while, before moving it to a bowl or storage bags.

What I like about this recipe is that I know what's gone into my granola, and I can add or subtract anything I like or do not like. And, ultimately, it's cheaper than buying bags or boxes of the stuff at the grocery store. So while I eat granola by the handful, you may just want to try this recipe with fork in hand. Though, really, that's not recommended.

Mango Salsa Chicken

Talk about a winner! This easy and healthy meal is one of Ram's favorites, and when I need a surefire hit (to balance out all of my other trials-and-errors), I add this to the menu. It is a pan-fried chicken with mango salsa, couscous, and simple salad greens. The couscous is out of a container; one cup of grains to one cup of boiling water, turn off heat, cover, fluff in five minutes. Couscous could not be any easier. The salad greens were fresh from Karalynn's garden (so grateful!), tossed with my favorite blush wine vinaigrette from Cape Cod dressings.

So the real star is the chicken, and it really has two components: the chicken itself and the sweet salsa. Ordinarily I butterfly my boneless chicken breast and pound it to create a flat and even cooking surface. I dredge (coat) the breast with flour, then dip it into a mix of egg and water, and, finally, coat it in breadcrumbs. The breadcrumbs can simply be from the container, but I like to add spices, too. Fresh cracked black pepper, garlic powder, oregano: anything you like can work. Chili powder would be delicious-- and a great accompaniment to the cold salsa.

At any rate, this three-step process for breading chicken might seem excessive, and you are free to bread it however you prefer. The three-step process is one that I've seen professionally trained chefs use on television. The reasoning behind this is that the egg mixture won't stick to an average piece of chicken; think slippery upon slippery. The flour gives the egg something to grab onto.

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To cook this pounded out, butterflied chicken, simply pan fry in a chicken fryer or wide-bottomed pan. I like to pan fry in olive oil with a bit of margarine, to impart a saltiness. If you've pounded the chicken thin, this will take maybe four or five minutes on each side, at the most. Keep the heat about medium so you don't scorch the outside (done that a couple times).

Now, in the photo above, I chose not to butterfly and pound the chicken (laziness after a long day in the city). I still used a pan fry to put some great color and crisp on the outside of the breast, but I finished them off in the oven. Total cooking time was 20-25 minutes. This preparation of chicken imparts the crunch we all love in a good piece of fried chicken, but it eliminates the 'deep fried' oil overload.

I prepared the salsa ahead of time. I chunked some mango, added finely chopped onions, dried cilantro, lime juice, and small diced tomatoes. I added salt and pepper to taste and set it aside-- covered-- in the fridge about an hour before I cooked the rest of the meal.

This is a crowd-pleaser. Homemade salsa always feels like a special treat, so folks with a taste for mango and/or salsa will love it. Folks who lack that affinity will still enjoy the meal, perhaps with another sauce (sweet and sour would be great, BBQ would be sufficient). At any rate, with a little presentation and elbow grease, you'll win over everyone at the table... with fork in hand.

Turkey Meatloaf

When I made my weekly grocery list on Sunday afternoon, I asked Ram if there was anything special he wanted me to add to the list. "Green stuff," he said. By that he didn't mean mint chocolate chip ice cream, unfortunately. He meant vegetation: peas, broccoli, lettuce, etc. He wanted some fiber.

As I designed my meals for the week, I made a conscious effort to devise ways to include more fiber in our diet. Not only is fiber the "stuff" that keeps our bowels regular, it's also responsible for helping our bodies process carbohydrates. So, for example, if a slice of bread has 9 carbohydrates and 5 grams of fiber, you can subtract the fiber from the carbs for your net carbohydrate intake. We all know that balance is the tricky and essential goal of eating healthfully, and this little mathematical trick is something I like to keep in the back of my mind.

That said, I decided to sneak some extra fiber into one of my favorite meals, made even more my favorite by the fact that it's my grandmother's piece de resistence: meatloaf. It's a super-simple recipe that allows the meat and the sauce to be the stars, and I doctored it up to increase the healthiness. Start with a pound (enough for three to four servings, depending on the size of your slices) of ground meat. In my gram's case, ground beef. In my case, ground turkey. I truthfully do not notice a difference, except, of course, that I know ground turkey is healthier, and I really prefer the flavor of turkey to that of beef. At any rate, the choice is yours.

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In a large bowl, plop down the meat. Add a small handful of diced onions, some garlic powder, black pepper, and a quarter cup of tomato sauce. My gram swears by Prego pasta sauce. Me? I'm frugal, so I use Hunt's. At $.89 for a can, you can not go wrong. It's looser than Prego, but that also means it stretches a little further, too. With your hands (c'mon! Roll up your sleeves!), squish it all together until the sauce and onions are distributed. Form it into the ubiquitous meatloaf shape (rectangular-ish with rounded corners), and place it on a baking rack in a casserole dish. Be sure to spray all the surfaces with cooking spray, because the fat and sauce tend to bake onto the dish's surface. Place casserole in a 400-degree oven for about 1.25 hours.

For my fiber-rich meatloaf, I added half a can of spinach to the meat mixture, which I first drained thoroughly in a strainer. You don't want to add the liquid from the spinach, so take a little time to squeeze all of it out. I also added a little tomato sauce to the top of the loaf before baking it; Gram adds, like, a whole jar of sauce, but since I don't want to reuse the sauce that contains fat drippings, I just opt for the top.

For sides, I again wanted to increase our fiber content. I boiled three Yukon gold potatoes (chopped them a bit first the speed up the cooking time) and mashed them with the other half of the spinach and a few tablespoons of margarine. I could've done with a bit more margarine, but for the sake of health-- and to preserve the great flavor of potato and spinach-- I used a light hand. The other side is simply quickly-boiled carrots and one small head of broccoli, drained, then heated with a tiny bit of margarine and tons of garlic salt and freshly cracked black pepper.

For what it's worth, I didn't peel the potatoes or the carrots. I like to think the peels add a bit more nutritional value, but they're a matter of preference. Some people hate peels and crave a nice, smooth mashed potato, and I think that's perfectly reasonable. Use a handmixer to get the job done if you're one of those types. As far as mix-ins are concerned, mashed potatoes can be delicious with just about any soft vegetable. I've boiled carrots and mashed them along with the potatoes, and I have regularly had boiled cabbage mixed in too. For some, this might be a good way to sneak in the veggies that people tend not to love (spinach, for example). And cooking is nothing if not an art, right? What's a little craftiness between friends with fork in hand?

Waffles & Eggs

I have a confession to make: I love breakfast. I could easily eat breakfast three meals a day. And when it's dinner time and I have no plan, waffles it is! My mother gifted us a waffle iron for my birthday, and it's sincerely an easy and reasonably-sized piece of kitchen equipment. My iron is simple, similar to this one. I plug it in, wait for the light to turn off, and pour in the batter. A few minutes later, the waffle has turned a beautiful golden brown and it ready to be devoured.

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The evening I decided to craft these waffles (with their scrambled egg side dishes), I realized I had no syrup (not a problem for Ram, but I like some sweetness with my Belgians) and no bananas (my typical add-in for delicious, sugary bites). In short, the cupboards were bare, but I persevered. I found a lone granny smith apple in the crisper and decided apple-cinnamon waffles were perfection.

To prepare the apples, I cut the fruit into small pieces and dumped them into a small saucepan with about 1/4 cup of water, a few tablespoons of sugar, and two cinnamon sticks. I put it on the burner and let the whole concoction reduce. I prepared the batter according to the instructions (Krusteaz is my favorite) and added the apple-cinnamon reduction (minus the cinnamon sticks). With a single spritz of cooking spray, I proceeded to ladle the right amount of batter onto the iron.

While that worked, I crafted some scrambled eggs. Anyone who knows me knows that I could put away some egg white omelets, and these scrambled eggs are my quick, messy version. Two eggs in a pan that's been coated with cooking spray, mixed with some onion slices and fresh cracked pepper. Eggs are a great food-- packed with protein, very low in calories, and-- if you omit the yolks-- also very low-cholesterol. I love throwing in "everything but the kitchen sink"; eggs with deli ham or turkey, green peppers, carrot curls, beans. You name it, I've thrown it into eggs.

And eggs are the perfect side for beautiful brown waffles. And these waffles were a delicate, tasty dinner on a night when my kitchen came up short. Trust when I tell you: I inhaled this breakfast-for-dinner with fork in hand.

Stir-Fry

I am a sucker for Asian food, and it's so easy to make at home that I do quite often. Flipping through a Betty Crocker cookbook last weekend, I came across a recipe for vegetable fried rice, and my brain made the leap to stir-fry. It's easy, healthy, and-- more importantly-- delicious!

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I started by slicing some chicken into two-bite-sized pieces. I cut two chicken breasts for the two of us, and we ended up with a serving left over, so ultimately, I think we ended up eating 3/4 of a breast each. I threw/plopped the chicken pieces into a bowl and added about three tablespoons of low-sodium soy sauce. To be honest, I didn't measure; I trickled it in until the all the chicken could be coated and take on a dark color. I added a teaspoon or so of chopped ginger and a sprinkle of garlic powder and fresh cracked pepper. I stirred it all together, covered it in plastic wrap, and set it aside in the fridge for an hour or two. If you don't have the time to let it sit, feel free to cook it right away.

I chose to use a chicken fryer, because it's a deep, wide pan, big enough for me to toss the stir-fry. Certainly if you've got a wok, use it. If you've got pots but no wok or chicken fryer, use the widest-bottom pot you've got to give yourself some surface area.

(I should mention that before I started the stir-fry, I put on a pouch of almost-instant rice. I have no patience to wait for 45-minute rice, so I buy the $.69 pouches at Hannaford. I used wild rice for this meal, but any rice you like is perfect.)

I coated the bottom of the pan with a little canola oil (which, incidentally, is as good for you as olive oil but WAY cheaper). I tossed in the chicken and let it start working. I added large chunks of onion, chopped broccoli (on sale at Hannaford this week!), frozen peas, canned mushrooms (way cheaper than fresh), and a cup or so of water. The soy sauce tends to grow stronger in flavor when it's cooked, so the water stretches it out a little and doesn't leave you feeling like you've consumed a bowl of salt after you're done eating. Let this work in the pan until the chicken is cooked and the liquid is almost completely evaporated. I covered mine, and this process took about twenty minutes, just enough time for my rice to finish.

What I love about stir-fry is that you can throw in whatever you like/have in the crisper. I adore stir-fry with carrots, I've eaten it with mini-corn-on-the-cob, and I've made it with a little cabbage or bok choy. The idea is to infuse the meat and veggies with a simple sauce, which you can jazz up with any seasoning you like. In fact, my husband loves his food hot, so I drizzled some hot sauce into his bowl.

Stir-fry is a simple, fast, and delicious addition to anyone's cooking repertoire. I hope you'll give it a try with fork in hand.

Homemade Hummus

I'm happy (most of the time) to say that I am making a concerted effort to eat more healthfully. My husband is a big fan of reading labels, and he often sacrifices flavor for nutrition. I am seeking a balance. I appreciate science; in fact, I love the science of how our bodies work, which is one reason why healthy eating and healthy living has become a fascination. But there is a point where I think flavor is too important to sacrifice. Thus it is my mission to find ways to infuse flavor into healthy foods-- while remaining on budget.

If you've stepped up to a salad bar or the deli counter and seen containers of beige mush coupled with price tags that make your head spin (or your eyes roll, in my case), you have encountered hummus. Hummus is a chickpea spread. For those of you more familiar with this terminology: hummus is a garbanzo bean spread. It is made by pureeing chickpeas/garbanzos with a little olive oil. Often you can find varieties that incorporate roasted red peppers, garlic, greens, or sun-dried tomatoes. Chickpeas/garbanzos are high in protein and fiber, two staples of the healthy diet. I am always looking for ways to incorporate more beans into my diet because they are kind of a miracle food. Hummus is a great way to add flavor to a sandwich, salad, or wrap, and it negates the need for often-high salt condiments.

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So I pledged to make delicious hummus. When my grandmother gifted me a food processor (small, perfect for two people, with a hand crank), I had no further excuses. After assembling the food processor, I pulled out my ingredients: a 32 ounce can of chickpeas/garbanzos, a few cloves of garlic, and a bottle of olive oil. I rinsed the beans to remove the salty preservative goop (I'm sure there's a technical name for this). I cut the garlic in half. I opened the lid of the olive oil. I dumped the beans and garlic into the processor, ground some black pepper on top, and closed the top. I began cranking to break down the beans a bit, then added olive oil little by little, cranking in between. Process until the consistency is appealing to you. For sandwiches and wraps, you might opt for a smoother consistency. This requires slightly more oil and a little more processing. In the photo above, as you can see, we ate our hummus with carrot and cucumber sticks, so I opted for something with a little more chunk.

The flavor is one that Ram loved, being a huge fan of hummus already. For me, the garlic and black pepper were saving graces. I enjoyed eating it, and I will continue to break myself into the world of hummus. But I could only eat so much before I tired of the chickpeas. Perhaps I should scratch that from the blog. I want you to try this. I genuinely do. If you already love hummus, I need you to try this. It's imperative. You will save a ton of money making this yourself. One 32 ounce can made enough hummus for the week, eaten as a dip, on pitas, and on salads.

Like so many things I make, this dish (more a spread, I suppose) can be altered to suit your tastes. In fact, not one hour ago I made a batch using some roasted red pepper jelly we received as a wedding gift and some crushed red pepper flakes. Ram is going to flip with joy. Here's hoping he doesn't flip with fork in hand, though, or we may be taking our hummus to the ER.

BBQ Chicken Skewers

Last week was a blog failure of epic proportions. IOU big time this week. Starting with kebabs.

I have an affinity for bbq chicken on the grill. It's one of my favorite things about the summer. In fact, as long as the grill is accessible, regardless of the season and the weather, I like to use it. Alas, in my move to Massachusetts, I lost one great love in my life: the outdoor grill. To make matters worse, we aren't allowed to have a grill here, so a summer of great grilling ideas comes to a screeching halt.

But just because I can't grill doesn't mean I can't put to the test a couple of my favorite grilling techniques: marinading and skewering.

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Marinading is something a lot of us have been instructed to do by countless TV chefs. But it does take a little advanced planning. I like to take a look at the big picture and to make time to prepare my meats (in this case, chicken breasts) by removing the skin, trimming to size, and soaking in a scrumptious sauce. When it comes to grilling, to some extent, size matters. In order for meats to cook evenly, the pieces should be relatively the same size and thickness. A chicken breast, cooked whole, for example, can be folded under on the thin end to create an even thickness. For kebabs, the pieces should be cut to the same thickness on each kebab. Ending up with one kebab with smaller end pieces and one with larger pieces means two different cooking times, but at least you won't have over- and under-cooked meats on the same stick. It's the lesser of two evils.

I tossed this chicken with bottled BBQ sauce. Hannaford makes a cheap and delicious Sweet and Tangy sauce that I love. To dress up a marinade, add minced garlic, ginger, onion, or herbs/spices. If someone at your table likes it hot, set aside a little marinade with crushed red pepper or chilis. If someone else is trying to watch their sugar or calorie intake, use a dry rub of spices instead of a sauce.

Either way, let the meat set. Let it soak in some of the goodness. After a few hours (or overnight, if you're really thinking ahead!), you're ready to skewer. I'm fairly new to skewering, but I love the concept. I used wooden skewers, which I soaked before loading up with meat and vegetables to prevent scorching. If you're grilling outside with flames lapping at your meat, you do not want to skip this step. Almost nothing can ruin a BBQ faster than skewers on fire. Or so I'm told.

I skewered with onion in this case, but you can literally use any vegetable that suits your fancy, provided that it can be stuck through with a stick. Similar to the rule of thumb with meat, you want to keep your vegetables a similar size. Some vegetables cook a lot faster than others, too, so keep that in mind when you're selecting your veg.

To circumvent the no grill issue, I simply baked this chicken. But I have also used the trusty George Foreman Grill, which, while not infusing the grill flavor, does at least provide the grill marks and thus the illusion of my charcoal smoking friend.

Simple sides here include steamed corn on the cob-- on sale the week I conceived this meal-- and cucumbers tossed with balsamic vinaigrette, a summer staple. Super-simple, but delicious.

So, whether you've got an outdoor grill (in which case, I am jealous) or you long to get one, remember to apply and perfect the techniques so you can enjoy your meals with fork in hand.

Cod Cakes

For what it's worth, my efforts are often unsuccessful. Cooking without a recipe-- my process, I'll call it-- means cooking instinctively, and sometimes my instincts are off.

I saw someone on Food Network make cod cakes, a knock-off of crab cakes, which I love. I've never worked with crab, and I've certainly never made a crab cake, but I've eaten a few, and I was determined to try this recipe. Cod is fairly mild fish, which I say as a person who does not eat fish. The finished product (spoiler alert!) had a taste reminiscent of crab cakes, and if they had been served properly, they probably would have been delicious. More on that later.

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I purchased frozen cod fillets at Hannaford. They came two to a package, and I ended up using just half of one piece (which means we'll be attempting this recipe again). Step one is to put a frying pan (one for which you have a lid) on the stove with maybe 3/4" water. Place the frozen fish (or fresh, if you have it) in the pan, and cover it until the fish has poached and is cooked through. While that's happening, I poured maybe a half cup to a cup of breadcrumbs into a bowl, along with seasoning: garlic, lemon peel (dried and crushed), and black pepper. When the cod was poached, I pulled it out of the water and plopped it into the bowl. I used a potato masher to pulverize the fish, then I used my hands to incorporate all of the ingredients. I added one egg to bind the mixture together, so that I could form four palm-sized cod cakes. The mixture did not hold together as well as I'd hoped, but I really didn't want to add more crumbs or another egg, so I squished and formed the cakes until they held together well enough to gingerly move them. I heated some olive oil with a teaspoon of butter (for flavor-- love that saltiness), and when that sizzled, I put my cod cakes carefully into the oil. A couple minutes on each side, and the cakes were brown and hot through.

Here's the rub. The sides were not done yet, so I placed the cod cakes in a pan and stuck them in the oven to keep them hot. Big mistake. When everything was eventually ready, the cod cakes were dried out and hard. The flavor was still there, and I believe in this process, but I would wait until the last possible minute to fry them. Lesson learned.

The sides were simple. I took two white potatoes, sliced into rounds, and sprinkled them with black pepper. I placed them on a cooling rack on top of a cookie sheet so they would be elevated and not fester in their own droppings. They took longer to cook than I thought they would, hence the dried cod cakes. But they tasted fine. With a little more seasoning and a little more time, they would have been delicious.

The other side was another coleslaw. I chopped the cabbage into small-ish pieces and tossed them with a mixture of Dijon mustard, honey, and lemon juice. I have never been a huge fan of Dijon mustard (unlike its yellow cousin, which I adore), and this was too much for me. But Ram loved it, and if you enjoy Dijon, you will too.

So those are cod cakes. Next time (and there will be a next time) I'll fry them off at the last minute so that we can enjoy the sizzling, hot, flaky cakes, with fork in hand.

Taco Deconstructed w/Paratha

Last week, Ram went into an Indian grocers for candies and came out with paratha. Paratha is an Indian flatbread, perfect for dining with your hands because it serves as a vessel for getting food from the plate to your mouth. With a package of paratha in the fridge, it became my mission to design a meal around it. Only, I lack any real ability to cook Indian food. So I made it Mexican instead.

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Indian meals usually consist of several dishes (a smorgasbord of sides, basically) from which each diner scoops or selects what they like. Flatbreads of some kind (chapati, roti, naan, paratha) are almost always served, and they often function as a utensil, not just an addition to the meal. The flatbreads themselves usually don't have a ton of flavor, though I have had some roti that tasted fantastic and garlic naan. In a typical meal, it's all about the dishes.

In my Indian-style eating Mexican meal (did you follow that?), I chose to arrange the components of tacos and let Ram and I build our own meals. The meat, of course, is the foundation. I took ground turkey (which I mistakenly did not take out of the freezer in time to thaw, which resulted in me steaming it before frying it) and added about two tablespoons of chili powder, two tablespoons of oregano, a quarter teaspoon (because I'm a wimp) of crushed red pepper, and some salt and black pepper to taste (light on the salt, of course!). If I had had garlic powder, I would have added that too. These are the spices I use in my family-famous chili, so I knew the flavor profile would be spot on. I wasn't wrong. I also sauteed some carrots and onions to add a little fiber and a little flavor to the meat. When the meat was browned (sort of blacked, actually), I added about a half cup of chicken stock (low sodium), covered it, and let simmer for about twenty minutes.

The sides were ridiculously simple. I can't call myself a chef based on these, that's for sure. I made wild rice out of a packet, I chopped some green pepper, and I sauteed some frozen corn with a little chili power and black pepper. The salsa I made myself. I enjoy making salsa because, with just a couple of ingredients, you can make a fresh, special topping for just about anything. The basic components of any of my salsas are some finely chopped onions, a little salt and pepper, and lime juice. This time, I used tomato, because we had some in the fridge. I have also made mango salsa and orange salsa, both of which were totally delicious. If I have cilantro in the fridge, I use that too. Cilantro immediately elevates any dish it's in with its distinctive freshness. I always chop and toss my salsa ingredients ahead of time (maybe an hour or two) so they can settle in together in the fridge. It does take a little time for the acid of the lime juice to break down the other components, so resting is fairly important. But if you've got a time-crunch, go ahead and eat it right away.

That's it. My Indian-style dining with Mexican foods. It makes little sense, but it tastes delicious. And, if you've got picky eaters in your family, tacos remain one thing that can not go wrong. So, bon appetite-- with (or without) a fork in hand.

Asian Lettuce Wraps

One of my favorite restaurants (which also happens to be one of America's most unhealthy) is the Cheesecake Factory. We are damned/blessed to have a CF in the Burlington Mall, just twenty minutes from our apartment, and back in the day (last summer) we frequently dropped in for dinner. Now that we are in the heat of saving for a house and eating healthier, the Cheesecake Factory has been relegated to "special" occasions only: my birthday, my mom coming down to visit, etc.

One of our favorite dishes at the CF is a Thai Lettuce Wrap, which comes with three sauces and a handful of toppings (including carrots and slightly-pickled cucumbers). The chicken is small and well-cooked, and the wraps are fun to build. I've been interested in recreating this meal at home, and I have not, I will admit, had success.

Below is the closest I've come to something inspired by the CF lettuce wraps. I didn't deal with sauces (not yet my forte), and I kept the toppings minimal (to save money and calories, really). But this was a crunchy, easy, delicious dinner.

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The chicken slow-cooked in my CrockPot for about three hours. For those of you familiar with a CrockPot, you know it can take some of the hassle out of getting dinner on the table. Me? I had all day and plenty of the evening to cook, but I like the way this chicken comes out when it's cooked low and slow. I used the chicken thighs we got on sale at Hannaford this week. I removed the skin, took out the bone, and sliced the meat into strips. I laid the strips in the CrockPot atop a bed of onions (totally optional), and I mixed a simple teriyaki sauce. The recipe is something like half a cup of soy sauce, a third cup of brown sugar, and some minced garlic. I had to play around with it. Instead of the full half cup of soy sauce, I used about a quarter cup and supplemented that with chicken stock (both were the low-sodium variety). I also cut out a little sugar, figuring that a reduction in salt would balance a reduction in sugar. The garlic, of course, I kept. If I had had ginger root in the fridge, I would have sliced some of that in as well.

At any rate, just pour the sauce over the chicken, cover, and cook in the CrockPot on low for maybe three hours. At that point, I just put it on warm and let it sit until we were ready to eat.

I wanted something crunchy and cold to off-set the hot, tender chicken. I opted to use romaine lettuce leaves as the base, though bib lettuce is ideal (it doesn't have a thick vein, like the romaine, and its leaves are broader and better for folding over). I thinly sliced cucumbers and carrots with my new food processor/slicer (thanks, Gram!), and I chopped a little fresh cabbage. And, because they were in the cupboard, I threw on a few peanuts, too.

This was a great summertime meal for a couple of reasons. For one, it didn't require me to turn on our oven or stove, which seem to emit lava-like heat. And two, it was light and flavorful. If I had been able to visit a farmers' market beforehand, it would also have been locally harvested. This is also great because, like a taco, everyone at the table can build his or her own, creating just the right combination of flavors. You can't go wrong.

This catchphrase is already a little redundant, but I'm going with it-- and with fork in hand.

Puka Dog

When in Rome, do as the Romans, right? Well, when in Hawai'i, do as the Hawaiians (and Anthony Bourdain) do: eat a Puka Dog!

Ram and I partook of this bizarre delicacy while on our weddingmoon. I insisted. I'm pretty sure Ram had never eaten a hotdog before. His upbringing precludes him from eating beef and pork, and most turkey dogs have a pork casing. Besides that, a hotdog-- even a turkey dog with a synthetic casing-- isn't something he would choose to eat. So, I insisted. And like a good husband (and one with cash, because that's all Puka Dog takes for payment, and I never carry any), he joined me.

The menu is simple: pick a dog, pick a secret sauce, pick a special (or typical) topping, pay cash. The secret sauce is garlic-based. When I bit into mine, the sauce maintained a mayo-like consistency. I'm not a mayo fan, so, rather than turn up my nose, I just averted my eyes. I averted them to the fun side of the bun: the mango side!

The second topping choice is a little more challenging than "Mild" to "Hot Hot". And, I believe, this could be used on some sort of personality test. Will you take your Puka Dog Tropical or Traditional? Do you walk on the wild side or stay on the sidewalk?

For once, I chose the wild side and topped my P.Dog with mango relish. And that sweetness was a dynamite decision. Combined with the slightly salty (mild) Secret Sauce, toothsome and slightly salty soy dog, and bangin' bun, the mango relish was a perfect balance.

Speaking of the bun, take a look at the instrument Puka Dog uses to warm its dog holder:

The bun is a vessel made specifically for the dog. It has a closed bottom and a cylindrical hole precisely big enough for the dog and the sauces. So, after impaling the bun on a Medieval-looking warming spike, Puka Dog artists (my term for them) squirt in the sauces and shove in the dog. It's as graphic as it sounds.

Puka Dog was a great experience. I found myself craving a second one just days later. I think the novelty of the method and the sauces was the draw, but I could also smell that bun from a mile away. I'm a sucker for a good, hot piece of bread.

The dog is self-contained, but I still bid you ALOHA with fork in hand.

Spicy Chicken Legs

My friends regularly ask me for the recipes behind my food. What friends, you ask? Well, for a few months, I've been taking pictures of the dishes I crafted and posting them to Facebook, usually with a brief explanation of the dish. Below is a dish I made a couple nights ago, when the temps in Massachusetts reached into the 90s. Turning on the oven was certifiably crazy, but the results were worth the sweat.

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I don't usually use recipes when I cook. I approach food organically. Typically, I think about the ingredients we have in the fridge or the items that are on sale at the grocery store, then I develop what I hope will be a well-balanced meal around that. Ram has been on a health kick for a while now, and he prefers to eat meals that are very low in salt, sugar, fat, and carbohydrates. Talk about throwing a wrench directly into the path of my tastebuds! But the truth is, his preferences (usually) help to sway me in the way of healthier eating, and I have to admit, I often need that push.

This meal is composed of three things, each with its own spices and style. The common thread is the spice, though. For me, the food on the plate needs to be complementary. I wouldn't, for example, throw an Italian-style meatball on the same plate as a teriyaki chicken kebab and an Indian samosa. With the exception of a potluck, where incongruous dishes end up sharing a plate, this hodge-podge is not harmonious, and I want my food to make sense.

The coleslaw was the starting point. I saw a chef use cabbage on Food Network over the weekend, and I thought, "There's a vegetable with a ton of fiber [which Ram will love] that also stretches a long way." I immediately started to develop my week's meals around the cabbage: slaw with roasted chicken, Asian lettuce wraps, and slaw with cod cakes. Ahh-- the other beauty of cabbage (besides being fibrous and hefty enough for several meals) is that it can take a variety of flavors to match the direction of the dish (while still maintaining its own flavor and texture).

So I shaved the cabbage with my chef's knife and just tossed it with a few tablespoons of jerk marinade. I received the marinade a few weeks ago at my going-away party at work. The essence of jerk marinade is Latin-inspired spices; mine lists coriander, red pepper, ginger, and thyme among its ingredients. Talk about simple! I take all the help I can get in the kitchen, provided that the help isn't full of chemicals and preservatives.

After setting aside the coleslaw, I de-skinned and washed six chicken legs. Hannaford had them on sale this week, and I bought a large package that included six legs and six thighs (see tomorrow's post for my thigh treatment). I patted the legs dry, preheated the oven to 450, and coated the legs in another going-away party gift: a rub of garlic powder, paprika, and lots of black pepper. I think the balance is something like 1 part paprika, 2 parts garlic powder, and 3 parts black pepper. Because the chicken was dry, it took the rub really well. I placed the spicy legs (this is sounding dirtier by the minute) on a baking rack atop a cookie sheet (elevating the chicken above its fatty droppings not only saves us from ingesting the fat, but also preserves the spices on the underside of the legs). I set the timer for 45 minutes, and when I pulled those legs out, they were piping hot and juicy-- not to mention burning-my-lips-and-tongue spicy! I drank a small glass of milk with dinner, trying to keep the tears at bay. If you recreate this spice rub and don't like a ton of spice, reduce the black pepper to 1 or 2 parts.

The final element of this dish was a super-quick saute of corn. We had two ears left over from a meal last week, so I sliced the kernels off (into a bowl, otherwise they'd have migrated to the floor) and tossed them in a small frying pan with a tiny bit of olive oil, a nob of butter, and some black pepper and chili powder. Maybe a couple minutes later, I plated it all up.

Cooking this meal was virtual suicide, considering the temperatures outside. And the heat of the spices certainly heated up the palate. But the meal was extremely economical and healthy. The chicken legs cost about $3.50, the cabbage was $.69 a pound, and the corn was $.38. We ended up using the leftover slaw the next night with our chicken wraps, and we each had a leg leftover for lunch. As far as I'm concerned, flavor is paramount, but to satisfy diners with healthy food while staying under-budget is a super-big bonus.

Even though chicken legs require no fork, I leave you with fork in hand.

Strawberry Shortcake

The image below looks slightly better than it tastes, but it takes simplicity to a level I kind of like.

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When I picked fresh Maine strawberries in mid-June, I was only home in Maine for, maybe, a day or two. I packed a bunch (are strawberries called a 'bunch' when they're taken as a group?) and moved them to Massachusetts, along with the rest of my stuff. That's right. I packed my strawberries right beside the boxes of tee shirts and totes of shoes. Gladly, they survived the trip-- barely. Fresh-picked strawberries are delicate beings. I find that if I do not eat them within a few days, they become more mush than berry. But that first bite just minutes after they've been plucked from their dirty, leafy wombs? Worth every ache and pain from squatting in the field under a blazing hot sun. The juice erupts from the skin, filling the lucky biter's mouth with sweet, sunny nectar.

I fear my description may seem grandiose, especially if you have, devastatingly, been limited to store-bought berries. To be fair, strawberries of any origin at any time of year are my favorite fruit, so I can't begrudge my fellow fruit fiends for buying our pre-packaged friends. But nothing-- and I do mean nothing-- in the world compares to a berry baked under the sun in rural Maine. And my description, while a little verbose, is accurate. Trust me on this.

So the berries in the image survived their journey, and I wanted to treat them with as little sugar and abuse as possible. These berries were tossed with about a tablespoon of honey (primarily because I did not have sugar in the apartment; secondarily because honey has a certain organic quality that you just can't get from granulated sugar). I baked the biscuit by adapting a recipe I found online.

The biscuit was a mixed success. It didn't rise like it should. It didn't develop that fluffy interior I love so much. But it did taste like a biscuit should taste, and it came out of the oven steamy and doughy, which I quite like. And when fresh berries have been tossed with honey, they demand to be eaten in exactly this fashion.

Thus: the image above. A quintessential (at least in my family) summer dessert, prepared with a lot less effort than my Gram and Gramps used to put in (pureeing berries, sweetening, chopping, repeating). I'll take it any day, in any place, at any time. It will always mean watching the world go by on my grandparents' front porch and the simplicity of summer.

Happy eating-- with fork in hand.

Roy's Poipu Bar & Grill

For my first foray into food blogging, I'm going to break from my not-yet-formed tradition of writing about my experiences cooking food. Instead, I'd like to start with something else I love: food cooked FOR me.

Ram (my new husband, for those of you not in the know) and I returned from the island of Kauai in the state of Hawai'i (yea for the battles we won to gain that piece of property!) just over a week ago. We had a simple wedding: the two of us, our toes in the sand, being serenaded by a barefoot minister blowing a conch shell. Now, we all know that one of the most important aspects of a wedding is the reception that follows. And the most important aspect of the reception is the food. I consider myself a non-traditional bride, but the one thing I could not abide was ignoring the importance of eating something amazing on the day of my wedding.

Enter Roy Yamaguchi. Well, not exactly. Roy was conspicuously absent. Surely he was off winning another James Beard Award. At any rate, enter Roy's Poipu Bar and Grill chefs. And thank God they entered.

I made a reservation for a reasonable time: 6 pm. We were one of, maybe, fifteen tables seated at that time. People in Hawaii, like people in Boston or NYC, evidently eat later. Not that I cared. I was starving, and I had cultivated high expectations since I watched Roy participate (and sadly, lose) on Top Chef Masters. I was ready to be wowed.

The server was kind, soft-spoken, and clearly a little green. She stumbled over her words and created awkward silences. But her heart was in the right place. My favorite service, though, I'll admit, was the gentlemen who kept my water glass full. Never underestimate the need to stay hydrated during an amazing meal. Or during grueling physical activity.

Ram and I opted for the Prix Fixe menu, which saved us a little money but did not rob us of a tastebud orgasm. (By the way, that is my description. I reckon Ram would choose a slightly different phrase.) We started with chicken and mint spring rolls. We each received one (okay, a little light on the app, but it's "fine dining"), sliced in the middle, arranged on a sauce of something tangy and surprising. The spring roll, unlike those purchased at the mall or at just about any Asian restaurant, was flaky and light. I will attest that I spotted not one drop of errant cooking oil on the plate, and my mouth filled with the steam and fragrance of chicken and mint. The appetizer was fantastic, a crunchy exploration of simple ingredients. The meal was looking good.

As far as the entrees were concerned, the Prix Fixe menu offered three options, two of which were fish. Being a bit of a land-lubber, I opted for the third option: honey-mustard short ribs. I had never eaten short ribs before, but I had seen them cooked on television countless times. I know that they need to cook (braise, specifically) for a long period of time in order to break down the muscle and to ensure the meat is fork tender. These short ribs were, clearly, the best I will ever eat in my life. I hesitate to order them again for fear of comparison to Roy's. The plate was loaded with meat, far more than I normally consume, but it had the intense flavor of a well-cooked (not well-done) roast beef. The honey-mustard was used sparingly, and when the flavor hit my tongue, it was a shocking experience. The sides were simple: steamed vegetables and a potato gratin carefully cut into a single large circle and torched for that crunchy, delectable burnt cheese flavor. The plate was a culinary work of art.

I ate the beef. I mean, let's be real. It looked like enough for two people. Any nutritionist would suffer heartbreak watching me scarf it down. But there was no way in all that is Holy Roy's Bar and Grill that I was letting that hot, just-out-of-the-oven, juicy meat go to waste. And I sure as heck wasn't going to nuke it in a microwave later. So I ate it. Ever last thread of it.

But the Prix Fixe was not over yet. Ram and I each got a dessert. His was a chocolate souffle, complete with a hidden river of steamy chocolate within. It was far more chocolate than either of us normally consumes, but we managed to finish. Let's just say, we chased it with my Apple Volcano, a hot apple tart served with macadamia nut ice cream and-- I struggle to find the words-- the crispiest, sweetest, most uniquely prepared apple skin I have ever consumed. The ribbons of skin were sliced paper thin and somehow treated to taste like candy apple. I ate those first, savoring each ribbon of appley goodness with, I'm sure, embarrassing groans.

It was a stunning end to a stunning day. And the best caterer on earth (unless Roy Yamaguchi caters) could never have touched this food experience. If you find yourself in any of his dozens of locations, I beg you: ignore the prices on the right side of the menu and overlook the fact that Roy's has gone viral with his franchise. The food speaks of local love and a true appreciation for balance and fine dining.

I leave you with fork in hand.