The Classics- 3/10/09

Every family has their classic dishes, the dishes they have regularly that everyone in the family loves. I've already mentioned that my mother was a rather unconventional cook but some of our classics were pretty traditional. We had spaghetti at least once a week. Mom had learned how to make pizza dough from an old Italian neighbor and pizza was another favorite. My mom grew up outside of Atlanta and also has a great pork barbeque recipe. When I asked Richard about his classic dishes growing up, he asked me if Hamburger Helper counted. Joking aside, he had some classics too. His mom made Sunday roasts and meatloaf.

Tonight's recipe is one I'd like to make a family classic. The Roast Chicken with Pan Gravy recipe on page 98 was not that different from many roast chicken recipes but the caption above the recipe was correct. It's a great idea to have a reliable roast chicken recipe. I was impressed with this one and it was easy. My picture looks a bit dark because I used minced garlic in the butter and the garlic burnt on top but that didn't affect the flavor. The recipe called for 2 chickens so I have one left over to make the two other recipes in the article "Birds in Hand".

My grandmother had lots of wonderful classic dishes and she never served a roast without potatoes. I made the Panfried Smashed Potatoes on page 47. In theory, the idea of smashed but intact potatoes was a good one but in actually, it was pretty impossible. Basically, I pan fried mashed potatoes with skin. They were good but looked like hash browns at Waffle House. Well, aren't Waffle House hash browns a classic?