BR, i'm not single..so i will just have to live thru you. :(

first good luck on the date. forget about the wine. buy an assortment. you dont want to look to pompous thinking your really know wine. i like reds with any meal better anyways.

here is my best DATE plan. roast a chicken!! nothing sexy-er than having some hottie show up at your place and the entire joint smells like home cooking. youtube, carving a chicken if your idea of taking one apart starts with yanking off a drumstick.

forget the tomatoes. store bought sucks, and store bought during winter really really sucks. keep it simple, a nice green salad dressed lightly with some good olive oil, and balsamic or lemon..salt/pepper. finish the salad when she is there..she sees you in action, and the salad wont be all wilted. she should be sipping on a nice bubbly glass of prosecco. YUM!

while the oven i hot, you may as well use it for the side dish..potatoes gratin. easy, elegant. i did all this on my first home cooked meal for my wife. i went the distance and cut the potatoe gratin out with a round mold. i set the potatoes on the center of a plate, put a few slices of chicken on top..drizzled a pan sauce..garnished it. she was MINE! we were married a short 8 years later..hahahhah.

(clean sheets on the bed, clean towels in the bathroom)

nothing oozes confidence than a person that is whipping up a pan sauce!

stolen photo from one of the best restaurant bought roast chickens.:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1291913688.jpg

Vash I bow down to you. You may be out of the game, but certainly didn't forget how to play. I think i am going to mix a few of these ideas and see what I come up with. I wish I could practice the meal on myself Friday night but have the company xmas party, damn. I'll try it out Saturday morning to get an idea of what I am doing.

Smooth and organize is the key to this game.

lemme know if you need any help.

chicken is easy. you really dont even need a thermometer. cook it at 325, and it is essentially done when the drumstick feels loose if you move it about. dry it off with paper towels, and wipe butter on it before you pop it in the hotbox..for a good looking skin.

For god's sake clean your bathroom esp the toilet.

Here's my simple roast chicken. The larding, lemons, and turning keeps the breast meat from getting dry which is the main problem when roasting chicken.
- Separate skin from meat, on the breasts especially but also the thighs, by getting your fingers in there and feeling around. Good practice for later.
- Cut some bacon strips, push them between skin and breast meat, not all crumpled up, lay them sort of flattish.
- With sharp knife tip, cut short slits in skin on back and thighs. Lets fat render out.
- Salt the cavity, then take two lemons, cut into quarters, stick them into the cavity. Or peel the lemons and don't bother quartering. You can stick in some herbs if you want. Lemons are important.
- Pat the chicken dry with paper towels. Sprinkle a little salt on the skin. Pat the skin lightly with flour or conrstarch. This all helps dry the skin.
- Pat chicken dry w/ paper towels. I don't truss it.
- Put chicken in pre-heated 350F oven (temp not really critical), breast side down, over a pan to catch drippings, roast for 30min.
- Turn chicken breast side up, brush breast skin with melted butter, roast for another 30 min or until done, brush with butter a couple more times.
- When chicken is done - I use a thermometer and want 160F in breast and deep in thigh, but the wiggly leg works - remove from oven, crank the broiler, adjust rack to put the chicken about 6" from broiler element. Broil chicken for about 5 min or until breast skin is nicely golden brown and crisp. Don't get distracted, don't walk away, keep the oven door open and watch the broiling the whole time, because golden brown is not far from dark brown then black.
- Remove chicken. Let cool while you make the pan sauce.
- I don't know about carving the bird in front of the lady. I'm not graceful at it, but it could work for some. I usually remove the whole breast half, take off the skin (it will simply lift off, bacon and all), slice the breast, lay the skin flat and slice it to match, then re-assemble.
- The lemon juice bastes and flavours the bird, the bacon shields the breast meat from drying out, the separated and buttered skin dries and browns nicely.

Can you set up a webcam, just for me and vash. We want to see the cooking.

WOW!! larding is hardcore!

i did it once with salt pork. hardcore!

Damn You guys are hardcore. How much is a roundtrip ticket from Portland, ha...! I'll try and take some pics. Though if I only snap one or two during the process you know what happened to me. Don't send the rescue squad.

I agree with the roast chicken. Scallop Potatoes go well as a side. Easy directions: Slice potatoes and 1 onion. In a pot, cover them with cream or milk. Boil until potatoes are soft. Pour all into baking dish add cheese bake on 350 until bubbly and turning a little brown on top. Delish. Salad: Spinach, goat cheese, pecans tossed with vinaigrette. Fruit with Chocolate for dessert. Good Luck.

scald a quart of heavy cream, as it cools off separate six eggs, save whites, you won't need them. whisk yolks with 3/4 cup of sugar, teaspoon of real vanilla extract, and a little dark rum [or gran marnier or bourbon, your choice], when cream is cool enough to not scramble your yolks, whisk together.
pour into coffee cups or ramekins, whatever you've got. place into a pan and fill pan mid-way up with hot water, place pan in the middle of oven set at about 325 degrees, bake 45 minutes and check, should be not quite set in the centers, just a slight jiggle when done, might take another five minutes or more.
remove and let cool.
when ready to serve sprinkle some sugar on top, lightly burn sugar with a small torch.
cookie and coffee to go with.

extras will keep in fridge tightly covered with cling film for a week.

you can make maple or coffee flavor too.
a tiny pinch of cinnamon won't hurt anything either.

If you do the roasted bird, buy a nice fresh, free-range one. You might consider an herb compound butter (fresh parsley, basil, rosemary, thyme, honey, salt, pepper) under the skin, in lieu of the bacon. Rub the outside with plain butter, salt and pepper. Stuff the cavity (after cleaning, drying and seasoning it) with half a lemon, half an onion, and sprigs of fresh thyme and rosemary. Scatter the giblets in a roasting pan with the other half of the onion and add some white wine. Pile the chicken on top. Roast at 350 for half an hour, then 450 till done. Baste as needed. Make a pan sauce out of the drippings.

I'd say that mashed pototes would go well with this. Do them right, with cold butter and hot, reduced cream.

There are a lot of easy side dishes that you could do. Steamed asparagus, Vichy carrots, etc.

Another easy main dish is the halibut with crab sauce that I have posted here a couple times. It's easy, can be done at the last minute and is really tasty. You might have to substitute another fish (cod, flounder, sea bass) for the halibut this time of year.

Whatever you make, make sure the ingredients are all of high quality, and fresh.

As for the wine, buy a nice bottle of white, from France. Lots of choices. Spend at least $20, and $30 would be better. You can drink it throughout the whole meal.

For a large fee, you can fly me to Houston and I'll cook it for you. I'll be in Austin and Dallas this weekend anyway.

JR

Ok need some more help guys. Have the bird and rest of the food. Can I put the butter inside the bird now to marinate? Or should I wait till I put the bird in the oven to add the lemons and herbs?

Here is the gameplan:

Throw bird in the oven for an hour and a half at 350 degrees.

Fresh salad with cucumber and tomato. Sip on Prosecco.

Carve up the bird and serve with Yukon Gold poatotos that were quartered and and rosted with the bird in the oven. A nice Pinot Noir to go with dinner. Vintage baby, 2006, lol.

Strawberries, rasberries, and blackberries as the dessert with homemade whip cream with Kaluha added to it. Went the fruit rout because it's easy and interactive. She can help me clean the berries and make the cream.

Damn this is gonna be fun.

Flowers on the table?

Edit: P.S guys/gals who helped me with the planning. You all should get laid tonight.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1292095150.jpg

Get the bird to room temp. Then do the butter, onion, lemon, herbs etc. Then, straight into the oven.

Make sure you butter under the skin and on the outside. Season the bird in the cavity and outside. Turn up the heat at the end to get a golden skin. Cover any hot spots with foil, if needed. Use a thermometer to judge doneness.

Roast the potatoes separately, or you'll end up with very dry potatoes. Better yet, do mashed, so you have something to use the gravy for. See my earlier notes.

Gotta go, headed to Texas.

JR

You can prep the chicken - butter, lemons, herbs, etc - now, then refrigerate, take out 1 hour before it goes into the oven to give it time to warm to room temp. Judge roasting time by doneness, not a fixed time, probably 1 to 1.5 hr. Use wiggly leg test or thermometer or cut into thigh where attaches to body to judge. If not starting breast down or larding w/ bacon, then suggest placing some foil over the breast for the first 1/2 hour, to reduce drying out.

Quartered potatoes won't take as long as the chicken, so put them in 20 min after the chicken. Salt them lightly. If not making a pan sauce, you can spoon off some of the chicken drippings and drizzle over the potatoes when starting to roast them - fat is tasty. Check done-ness w/ fork, they'll likely be done before the chicken which is okay, easier if not everything is ready at once.

Good idea to leave some fun prep to do together. Nice choice of wines. You're doing a good job. Bathroom clean?

Observe food safety w/ that raw chicken.

Remember pictures. Not of her, of the food!

hahahaha..i see prosecco!!! alrighty then!!

have fun. oooo..7:00 pm cali time. game time!

I suppose BR is going to be asking for help cooking her breakfast now.

- just kidding.

Jyl, you couldn't have been anymore correct! I should have brought OJ with me. We winged it with some oatmeal and some leftover blackberries.

I want to give every single one of you a thanks. You made me look like Bobby Flay in the kitchen which in turn translated into the bed. Thanks guys.

Here are the pics:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1292201119.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1292201161.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1292201209.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1292201238.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1292201271.jpg

thank you thank you thank you

Who the hell wants to look like Bobby Flay in the bedroom? :eek:

Haven't a clue.

Did she at all think it was weird that you were taking pictures of the food?

Her: "Hey Baby, why are you taking pictures of the food!?"

You: "Eh, my support group of middle-aged men need proof of my accomplishment!"

Her: "Well, alright...just don't take the camera in the bedroom later on. Deal?"

;)

ALRIGHTY THEN!

my wife and i just "high fived" your success!