Wouldn’t it be awesome to be able to order dinner off a menu every night of the week? Of course, most of us would probably love it. Just think of the variety you would get. You could go months without ever having the same thing twice.
OK, now for the reality check. I’m going to guess that most of you are closer to having meals the way I did when I was a kid. My family was in a supper rut — and that’s a gentle way of putting it. It wasn’t that my mom and dad were bad cooks. They were both great cooks, but they were busy. I have eight siblings and mom and dad were teachers with 11 mouths to feed. There was a lot of teaching that needed to be done to keep food on the table. They taught school until No. 3 was born and then my mom became a part-time substitute. Both parents also taught night school, which meant we had a tight schedule and led to a routine supper plan every week for years.
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“By simply changing the herbs and spices, you can end up
with an entirely different taste to whatever it is you are cooking.”
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Sundays we had roast beef just after the 11:45 a.m. mass with English muffins or cereal for supper. Mondays was chicken, Tuesdays ham out of a can with a key, Wednesdays spaghetti, Thursdays meatloaf, Fridays fish sticks and Saturdays was beans and hot dogs. We knew the day of the week by what we had for dinner.
I’m sure most of you aren’t quite that regimented. However, I bet, when it comes to shopping, you end up buying the same foods and preparing meals the same way because it’s what you are used to. What if I were to tell you there was a way to be routine, but try a different flavor every night?
The key is herbs and spices. By simply changing the herbs and spices, you can end up with an entirely different taste to whatever it is you are cooking. A while back, I wrote a recipe that my sous chef, Chuck, made us for staff meal. It was chicken breast wrapped in phyllo dough. The dish is simple to make: wrap the chicken breast, brushed liberally with a tarragon mayonnaise, in phyllo dough and bake it. It is a wonderful meal and if you change the tarragon to basil, it will transform the taste. If you are more in the mood for Southwestern cuisine, dust the chicken with a little chipotle and cumin or add a little curry powder to the mayonnaise.
The point is: you don’t have to make life-altering changes to your shopping and cooking habits to give your taste buds variety. Building up your herb and spice collection is easy, fun and can prove to be the closest thing to changing your menu without trying different meats or ingredients you are unfamiliar with.
Some of the herbs and spices might sit for a while until you remember that jar in the back of the cupboard. Of course, fresh herbs and spices are better, but have a variety of the dried versions on hand. Then variety is always one cupboard reach away.
Smitty is a personal chef specializing in dinner parties, cooking classes and special events. Trained under Master Chef Anton Flory at Top Notch Resort in Stowe, Vt., Smitty is known for his creative use of fresh ingredients. To read archived copies of Smitty’s column, visit chefsmitty.com or TheTahoeWeekly.com. Contact him at tmmsmitty@gmail.com or (530) 412-3598.
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Change up the herbs for Chef Smitty’s Chicken in Phyllo Dough
