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September 20, 2007
Sometimes, there just ain’t no substitute
Last night the challenge on Top Chef was to create something fabulous using the basic ingredients of chicken, onions and russet potatoes. I think the idea was that by focusing on simple ingredients they could really showcase their technical skills for the judges. The chefs came up with some interesting dishes, but none of them made what seemed to be the most obvious choice to me – roasted chicken and potatoes. I suppose it might not be gourmet enough, but they were cooking for French chefs, and you can make a lovely French roasted chicken. It got me to thinking about this Dijon mustard/herbes de Provence crusted roast chicken with chunks of onions and potatoes that I used to make. It was really, really good.
They can do a lot in the fake meat arena these days. They’ve made a lot of progress just since I went vegetarian six years ago, and now you can get decent fake bacon and “steak” strips for cheesesteak subs and stir fries, fake turkey for sandwiches, and veggie burgers, of course. But there is no vegetarian substitute for a nice roasted chicken.
I’m not giving up on vegetarianism or anything, and for the most part, I don’t miss eating meat, poultry or seafood. I guess I could toss some potatoes with mustard and olive oil and herbes de Provence and roast them, but I don’t think it will be quite the same.
Posted by Bad Penguin at September 20, 2007 10:46 PM
Comments
I admire you, I could NOT give up meat!! And that chicken thing sounds good, even if it is simple. I like simple :-)
Posted by: Nina at September 23, 2007 8:24 PM