Poele of Chicken

I solved the roasting pan conundrum for the time being with a disposable roasting pan from the food store. I know, it's environmentally irresponsible and I'm going to need to suck it up and buy a real roasting pan at some point. It's not just the money thing and how many tools I'm picking up just to do these lessons. It's a space issue. I'm not sure what other New Yorkers do, but my drawers are now barely closing. I would shove a box of utensils under the bed, but that space is already being claimed by my shoes and books. I'm going to need to rent storage space in order to eat. Or get remarried.

I am so not ready to get remarried.

Today's lesson came with a recipe: Poêlé of chicken with pearl onions and mushrooms. Doesn't that sound pretty? What it means is that the chicken is cooked in a covered pot so that steam is cooking the chicken just as much as the heat from the oven. Unfortunately, this recipe required the use of a bed of bacon--which it called a matignon. I don't keep kosher and don't really practice Judaism, but I couldn't get my Hebrew school teacher's voice out of my head as I looked at the recipe. I decided to leave it out and really, it made no difference. I mean, the chicken came out cooked perfectly and I made some vegetables with it as well.

Arianna came over with baby Beckett for dinner. He is the best sleeper--he just lay there in his pumpkin seat like a little delicious lump for the whole meal. She can't take him out a lot--she's worried about his immune system because he was premature. But our apartments aren't that far apart and she can walk over without taking him on the subway. I think it's a relief to have some place to go--even if it's just another person's apartment. And I love holding him.