The Tentative Chef

I have always heard that there are easy dinners out there to be made. These mysterious meals — which friend say take only 15 or 20 minutes to prepare — have always eluded me. But last night I decided to try to make one.

We’re low on foodstuffs, and I was on deadline with a project, so a grocery trip was out. It’s Passover, which means we’re not eating my usual staples of beans, rice and pasta. But I was in possession of one box of Manishevitz Homestyle Chicken Roasters, which is basically a Kosher-for-Passover shake and bake. I know this because the instructions on the box include the words “Shake” and “Bake.” I was also in possession of a phenomenal amount of broccoli, which we forgot to serve at our Seder. We were going to have coated chicken, broccoli and leftover noodle kugel.

I got so excited that I forgot to be intimidated. My mom makes this coated chicken, and it’s one of Hubby’s favorite dishes. He requests it whenever we visit, and she makes it even when it’s not Passover.

Do not even bother to turn, lazy!

I approached the instructions, which seemed simple enough. They basically involved throwing wet chicken pieces into a bag and shaking, then placing the chicken into a baking dish and baking. As I read this line: “Do not cover or turn chicken during baking,” I realized that this was the kind of lazy instructions that are meant for me! This was going to be easy.

I rinsed, I shaked, I placed in the oven and started baking. The instructions informed me that my boneless chicken (boneless and skinless breasts, generally the only chicken I work with outside of soup) would take
“20 to 25 minutes.”

I timed the broccoli, which I microwaved for two minutes, to be ready just as the chicken would be done. Ditto for the reheated (in the toaster oven at 350) kugel. At the 20-minute mark, I pulled out the chicken. It looked done. Until I cut into it and found it completely raw.

Back in it went. And then I forgot about it. Nearly 10 minutes later, I went back to the chicken, which was certainly done. Hubby declared it perfectly dry, which is how he likes it. I pouted. I pulled the broccoli out of the microwave. Overcooked and brown. I reached for the kugel and burned my fingers when it stuck to the pan. I sat down, defeated, and ate my not-so-simple meal.

Hubby was happy (or just being nice). He declared the chicken a fine meal, but he agreed that it’s not the same as my mom’s. “But that’s okay.” He said.

That’ll teach me to think that cooking can be simple. Tonight for dinner: leftover brisket (for Hubby) and matzah ball soup (for me), plus leftover kugel and matzah farfel muffins. Oh yes, and broccoli. Lots of microwaved broccoli.

P.S. I am totally not kidding when I tell you that you can buy Manishevitz  Chicken Roasters on Amazon.com, in bulk. Click here.