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Rotisserie Review: Herbed Chicken
Sep. 1st, 2008 08:19 pmMy call for an impromptu dinner party to partake of another rotisserie experiment rousted out one vegetarian (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
xrian) so I trolled the neighborhood to round it out with a few carnivores and got bites from both the tenants. ( Here's the menu. )
The results: Either I did something wrong with brining the chicken (despite having followed the magazine recipe) or it simply isn't my thing. The chicken was delicious -- absolutely delicious -- but I'd rather let my diners control their own sodium intake a bit more. But I'm starting to get more confident about the whole rotisserie thing. The bird was done to a turn, as they say, and meltingly tender. The tomato dish was heavenly (if simple). The carrot appetizers will be added to the repertoire. The other sides worked, although not particularly special. The pudding was divine and has inspired me to do a whole red-and-green menu (to go with my previous orange-and-purple menu). (The idea will be to use the colors in non-obvious ways, e.g., not just "red meat and green vegetables".)
I've realized that I need to get past three mental roadblocks for dinner parties. The whole last-minute spontaneous open-ended thing is fun on occasion, but I suspect it's also a crutch. 1) Yes, fixing a date in advance creates a Commitment which will then make me feel unwarrantedly burdened. Deal with it. 2) Yes, sending out invitations in advance to specific people means that I have to identify specific people I want to have dinner with and negotiate schedules with them. Deal with it. 3) Putting out general invitations to the general ether is not an appropriate way to deal with fear of rejection. Deal with it.
xrian) so I trolled the neighborhood to round it out with a few carnivores and got bites from both the tenants. ( Here's the menu. )The results: Either I did something wrong with brining the chicken (despite having followed the magazine recipe) or it simply isn't my thing. The chicken was delicious -- absolutely delicious -- but I'd rather let my diners control their own sodium intake a bit more. But I'm starting to get more confident about the whole rotisserie thing. The bird was done to a turn, as they say, and meltingly tender. The tomato dish was heavenly (if simple). The carrot appetizers will be added to the repertoire. The other sides worked, although not particularly special. The pudding was divine and has inspired me to do a whole red-and-green menu (to go with my previous orange-and-purple menu). (The idea will be to use the colors in non-obvious ways, e.g., not just "red meat and green vegetables".)
I've realized that I need to get past three mental roadblocks for dinner parties. The whole last-minute spontaneous open-ended thing is fun on occasion, but I suspect it's also a crutch. 1) Yes, fixing a date in advance creates a Commitment which will then make me feel unwarrantedly burdened. Deal with it. 2) Yes, sending out invitations in advance to specific people means that I have to identify specific people I want to have dinner with and negotiate schedules with them. Deal with it. 3) Putting out general invitations to the general ether is not an appropriate way to deal with fear of rejection. Deal with it.
