Sunday Suppers

If memory serves me right, almost five years ago, we started an informal dinner at our house on Sundays. It involved having my brother-in-law and my husband's best friend over for dinner just prior to watching the CBS show, Amazing Race. Even after the show would end for the season, we continued the tradition of meeting up at our place for dinners on Sunday. At some point, the burden of providing dinner on Sundays started to get heavy not only financially but also the desire to do it. So we proposed that we shared this "task" so it was not so much a burden, but an opportunity for all of us to stretch our culinary prowess, widen our palates and hone our kitchen skills. Surprisingly, everyone was game. Between the four of us, we each rotated Sundays to prepare a meal, hence the tradition of "Sunday Supper."

Sometimes that meal had special guests like someone's "date," or perhaps family or friends that were in town on a Sunday (see photo above). All in all, whether I'm sampling someone else's cooking or doing the cooking myself, it's something to look forward to. If you weren't cooking, you need only provide a bottle of wine and an empty stomach.

At first, my meals were based on whatever was already in the kitchen. Never anything fancy, just something to put on the table that wouldn't kill anyone. But then last year, I decided to challenge myself and take it up a notch. My husband has been subscribing to Food & Wine magazine and Bon Appetit magazine for years. And for years, they would accumulate in stacks until I couldn't stand it anymore and I would throw them out. Why subscribe if we are never going to partake? So last year, I started going through the magazines, bending down corners or sticking post-its to certain recipes.

In order for me to consider cooking a recipe from one of these magazines, here's what I learned about myself:
-- If there was no photo, I was not inclined to cook the meal. I wanted to know what the finished result was supposed to look like and I had to be interested in eating it. Hence, I needed pictures.
-- I never gravitate towards recipes that had seafood. Just was never interested.
-- Most of the recipes I tried came from Bon Appetit magazine.
-- Most of those recipe were because the ingredients didn't sound too far fetched and I never wanted to buy a spice or item that I'd only use once.

If the recipe was successful and I'd consider making it again, I'd tear the recipe out, grease stains and all, and put it in a binder. So far, those recipes include: Dried Fruit Compote with Ginger Syrup, Best-Ever Barbecued Ribs (and truly they are the best ever), Braised Chicken with Capers and Parsley, Wild Mushroom and Blue Cheese Quiche, Chicken Cordon Bleu.

Here's what I learned from cooking those recipes:
-- While knowing that the photographs were probably always pushed for color, etc. and tweaked by a food stylist, the pictures still always looked better than the finished results.
-- Sometimes the picture didn't even MATCH the finished results. I cooked a meat dish once and the cut of the meat was completely different from what was listed as an ingredient.
-- The final recipe is consistently under-seasoned. You really should taste as you go so you can adjust.

So a full year out of upping the ante with "professional" recipes, and my first turn in 2013 rolled around this past Sunday. It was also when I realized, why am I not documenting this experience? So here we go!