Get Out of That Comfort Zone!

Like most home cooks, I rarely put new meals in front of my family each week. Yes, I have more opportunity to try new dishes because I’m looking for recipes to write about here on my cooking blog, which I usually try out on my family. Saying that, I still find myself reverting back to those few meals that I’m comfortable with and I know my kids will eat.

Let’s face it, for entrees, what do we have to work with?

Chicken, fish, beef, pork and a bunch of vegetables. It may not sound like many alternatives, but think about how many different recipes there are on the Internet using these few ingredients. Thousands? Tens of thousands? Hundreds of thousands?

It’s sort of like the alphabet. Think how many words you can create with 26 letters. If you had 26 ingredients including chicken, fish, beef, pork and some vegetables, how many recipes could you come up with?  I have no idea how many cookbooks have been published since the beginning of the printing press, but I do know I have two bookcases full.

My wife will tell you that I have never met a cookbook I didn’t like, and she is right. Even though I don’t have much room in my office for more, I can’t help myself when I see a cookbook that catches my eye. We were at a farm fair this weekend where they were selling books at $2 per carton. Although we arrived late, I was able to find some great used cookbooks that I “had to have.”

So Many Cookbooks

So here I am with hundreds of cookbooks sitting on those shelves, including my recent must-have purchases, staring at me and crying out, “Pick me! Pick me!” hoping that I’ll choose one off the shelf and pick a new and interesting recipe to prepare for that night’s dinner. I usually disappoint my cookbooks. I typically choose from one of 4 or 5 cookbooks I’m really comfortable with or make something up on the fly using ingredients I have in the refrigerator. And my huge selection of must-have cookbooks just sits there gathering dust.

If I am honest with myself and with you, the truth is that even though I have access to thousands of recipes in my magazines, cookbooks, my own site and the Internet at large, I don’t take advantage of them. Unless I’m researching a recipe for a new post, I rarely go to my cookbooks to find a recipe and when I do, I usually make variations based on what I have on hand.

Pick Up a Cookbook and Start Cooking

I’ve been asking myself “why don’t I cook more from this great selection of cookbooks that I own?” and I’m not sure of the answer. I guess I could blame the Internet or all my cooking magazines (that’s another challenge) but I don’t want to pay the blame game. What I want to do is grab a cookbook off the shelf, browse through it, pick a recipe and prepare it from start to finish.

I think the real answer to why I don’t fully utilize my cookbook collection is a combination of wanting to stay in my comfort zone and lack of time.  Having a family with busy schedules, sometimes it’s just easier to stick with what I know.  Is there anyone else who can relate to this?

I think of myself as a pretty good amateur cook but like many of you, I have my own fears of trying something new. Baking is my biggest fear in the kitchen but I’m lucky to have my good friend Chef Jenni Field help me with your questions and my own.

Well, I think it is time to get out of my comfort zone and have some fun in the kitchen. I don’t plan on anything too aggressive like sous vide or working with sweetbreads but something new, quick and easy that I can serve my family during the week. French, Italian, Mexican, Danish, American. I don’t care as long it is new to me.

The Reluctant Gourmet Cookbook Challenge

So here’s my challenge to myself, and I would like to invite anyone who reads this to challenge themselves. I am going to pick a new recipe, one that I have never prepared before, from a different cookbook every two weeks, and make it for my family.

You may think two weeks is not much of a challenge but I looked at a typical week with two kids and all the stuff we have scheduled, and I don’t think I can realistically commit to one new recipe each week. If you can, hey, go for it, but for now, I’ll start with one every two weeks and then write about it on this blog.

If you accept the challenge, I would like you to come back to this post or my Facebook every couple of weeks and let me know:

• what cookbook you used
• what recipe you cooked
• how it turned out
• whether you would prepare it again
• what you might do differently

You don’t have to post the recipe, just let us know where it came from.

My Challenge Goal

My goal is to encourage myself to start cooking from my expansive cookbook collection, many of which were written by some very special chefs and professional food writers. I know I’ll learn some new cooking techniques as well as learn to work with new ingredients, especially spices and herbs.  More importantly, I’ll be expanding my cooking repertoire by trying new recipes, and I think that’s something I think we can all benefit from.

So I hope you take up this challenge and try just one new recipe from one of your collection of cookbooks every two weeks and share your results with my readers and me. I look forward to hearing from many of you.

I’ll be posting whatever recipe I’m trying on my Facebook page in case any of you have the same cookbook and want to try the same recipe. This way we can compare notes. I hope many of you take this challenge.  I think it will help those in a cooking rut to climb out. I know it’s going to help me get more familiar with my cookbooks.

Related Topics

Flounder Fillets à la Moutarde - Cookbook Challenge #1

Moussaka - Cookbook Challenge #2

Last week wrote about one of my favorite restaurants in Stone Harbor, NJ called Jay’s on Third but I also mentioned Quahog’s Seafood Shack as another of my favorite dining establishments down at the Jersey shore. Back in 2008 I wrote about their signature dish, Grilled Barbecue Pacu Fish Ribs that were featured on the TV show “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives” with Guy Fieri.

We did make it there last week, and it is never a let down. In fact, my wife said to me after dinner “I am never disappointed with the food we are served.” And now that the girls have finally stopped ordering off the kid’s menu, I get to sample even more menu items.

Where Jay’s is a more formal looking establishment as far as a seaside resorts go, Quahog’s Seafood Shack is just what you would expect of a beach resort casual seafood restaurant. They have a few tables inside in the air conditioning, but most of the tables are outside under a roof but open to the environment and that’s where you want to be. When it’s hot and humid like it can be in July, you want to be situated under one of the many ceiling fans.

The walls are adorned with fishing bric-a-brac and blackboards describing the daily specials. Each table has a collection of hot sauces next to the salt and pepper shakers. The waiters are friendly and attentive as can be, but when it is busy, so are they.

Quahog’s is a BYOB restaurant, and this is where I came across my first wine bottle with a glass cork. We brought along a bottle of Calera Chardonnay from Fred’s, the local liquor store in Avalon. We were all surprised when the waiter popped it off with a twist of the hand and placed a weird looking glass stopper on the table. I’ll be writing more about this alternative wine cork in the near future.

Some Great Menu Items

We started with a few appetizers including the cornmeal encrusted local crispy calamari with chipotle bbq sauce & tomato-jalapeno salsa. They stuck it in front of my daughter Nell so I risked life and limb to sample some. I am happy to report that I emerged both satisfied and unscathed. There was also a special appetizer of watermelon and tuna ceviche that was quite tasty.

My youngest wanted to order everything on the menu. Obviously, she takes after me. She was so excited about coming back to Quahog’s, and I would bet it’s because of their lobster taquitos with mango salsa. They serve this as an appetizer but she ordered it as her main meal.

According to Wikipedia, “taquitos” are small tacos that were actually invented in San Diego, CA by Ralph Pesqueria, Jr., although I find it hard to believe that someone didn’t prepare these in Mexico years ago.

For entrees my wife ordered a whole branzino, the fish of the day, and we were all very surprised by how it looked when it was served. My wife said it looked like “a boat, with the head as the bow and the tail as the stern”. I only wish I took a better photo. It was delicious.

Nell had been craving Italian food. She wanted to go to another restaurant in Stone Harbor that featured Italian food when she heard the wait to get into Quahog’s was over an hour. (They don’t take reservations.) So she ordered the clam carbonara with fresh linguini, little neck clams, bacon, roasted garlic, sun dried tomatoes and a white wine cream sauce. She was in heaven.

I ordered their famous BBQ Pacu Fish Ribs. They were served with an orange bbq sauce over coconut rice. You can read more about these ribs on my 2008 blog post called Grilled Barbecue Pacu Fish Ribs.

By that time, it was getting late, and we were too full to order dessert, so we left very satisfied and look forward to coming back next year.

Maddie enjoying some ice cream

What a great Father’s Day I enjoyed yesterday. Started with an hour walk with my wife Meg, then a swim later in the day with my youngest daughter Maddie and then a visit to Harriton Farms near where we live to sample some delicious ice cream from Yoder’s Country Market in New Holland, PA made by slow-churning milk from Golden Guernsey cows. My favorite was black cherry topped with fresh slices of local strawberries.

Slow Churned Ice Cream from Yoder's Country Market

A Golden Guernsey Cow

Roasted Halibut with Mango Salsa

Then my wife Meg prepared a feast of roasted halibut with mango salsa, steamed fresh asparagus and rice pilaf. We also enjoyed some incredible mozzarella made at DiBruno Bros on Friday served with tomatoes and basil and good olive oil and balsamic vinegar (Insalata Caprese), my favorite summertime dish especially when the tomatoes are in season. We finished off the meal with a Caesars salad.

The halibut was cut thick so my wife seasoned it with salt and pepper and a little olive oil and then cooked it in the oven at 400 degrees F for 20 minutes. It usually doesn’t take this long but it was a thick piece. The fish was perfect especially when served with the mango salsa.

Thanks Family for a great 2011 Father’s Day!