By Josh Resnek
Many, many times I grow tired of what I am eating.
Finally, last week, I tried something new.
I bought a half chicken at Whole Foods. It was $15.00 bucks but well worth it.
It has been covered with cracked black pep- per, tiny, tiny bits of garlic and a bit of salt and rubbed with lemon.
I had been thinking about a serendipitous grouping of vegetables with different tastes and colors and textures.
For no apparent reason other than to be entrepreneurial I bought shallots, peas in pods, carrots, mushrooms and small potatoes.
When I got home I picked out a sizable baking pan, put the chicken at the center of it, poured just a bit of Italian olive oil around the chicken and then tossed the vegetables (those which needed cutting, obviously, I cut) all around.
What a rush and simple thing this was to put together.
I preheated our AGA stove to about 475.
My wife is British. She requires an AGA stove.
The only thing you have to know about an AGA is that it cooks perfectly. You can cook four dishes at once in one of four small ovens that is a part of the stove.
Our AGA cost $8,000. It is powered by gas. It is an amazing piece of cooking equipment. It’s not for everyone.
The big AGA stoves one finds in English cottages cost closer to $18,000.
I placed the baking pan into the oven. I cleaned up the kitchen.
I’m not fastidious or overly uptight about cleanliness but I like the kitchen to be clean and orderly after I’ve cooked so I don’t have to ruin my meal by worrying about having to clean up.
I returned to my place on the couch in front of the flat screen television.
I enjoyed an edition of Bay Watch.
There is nothing quite like sitting through half-hour Bay Watch stories and waiting for dinner to cook.
When and if you tune in to Bay Watch, and you check out the acting of its major player, David Hasslehoff, you come to understand why he’s been drunk and drug addicted for much of his adult life.
In about 45 minutes, my prize was ready.
Wow! The combined taste of the cooked vegetables was an incredible rush. I did par boil the potatoes. The chicken was soft and juicy inside and the skin baked just right on the outside.
Each bit was a wondrous combination. Easy to do. Easy to cook. Easy to eat. I can’t wait to do this again.
It take almost no skill!
Maybe that’s why this worked for me!