Meal No. 3606: Chicken with Coronation Sauce

As a second week of unsettled weather was drawing to a close, downtown Winston-Salem was subjected to quite an early evening deluge. The house was battered on all sides that Saturday evening, but it was warm and delightful inside as Amy was here for a dinner of chicken with coronation sauce over fresh-steamed rice. It's a most fitting one-bowl meal on a night like that. We sent leftovers home to Gern, stuck at home feeling miserable with a spring cold.

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"Coronation Sauce for Chicken," from 400 Sauces, by Catherine Atkinson, Christine France, and Maggie Mayhew. Hermes House (2006, 2008), p. 155. Recipe is a variation on "Coronation Chicken," created by Constance Spry and Rosemary Hume for the 1953 Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

Giant Sugar Cookies

Friday night, when an urge for something sweet to finish out the day settled on me, I made a batch of giant sugar cookies. But then I was a bit shocked to find that I'd not made cookies since January (and it happened to be this same recipe). That's quite the drought for someone who otherwise has long been a notorious maker and baker of those tempting treats. (More recent, but actually a cookie variation, was brown sugar oatmeal carrot cake sandwiches, and now that I'm thinking about how amazing those were, I might have to make them soon too.)

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Based on "Mardi Gras Sugar Cookies," from Kelly of AmericanCupcakeAbroad.com. [Published 20 February 2012]

Meal No. 3605: Filet Mignon

At the end of a long but good week on the road, and knowing I did not eat especially well while I was gone, a solid celebratory style meal seemed appropriate Friday. With prepped filets in the freezer, and a sous vide immersion circulator on the counter, and a searing hot grill ready outside the back door, I could serve up awesome tender steaks, joined plateside by the latest batch of spiced roasted sweet potatoes. Appearing in the early afternoon, it was a peak moment of week's end.

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Based on "Roasted Sweet Potatoes," from Chelsea Lords of ChelseasMessyApron.com. [Published 04 March 2019]

Meal No. 3604: Hamburger Supreme

Having prepped and vacuum-sealed filling already in the freezer set me up to make a suitable Sunday lunch...before getting in the car for the 6-hour drive down to Jonesboro, Georgia.

I was there with a marvelous group of teacher development specialists, training them to be Project CRISS trainers. Although it was a frantic few days of preparation, too many late nights and not nearly enough sleep, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with this crew and appreciate how welcoming and responsive they were.

It's not often that I get to come across a team like this, and it was reminiscent of the joy I found in working with the Mission Possible Specialists in Guilford County next door to here.

Was it nice to get home again? Sure. Was it even better to have made a whole new set of professional friends who are pretty darned amazing? You betcha.

Meal No. 3603: Plain Old Oatmeal

Oh my gosh: what a great day last Friday was. It started with driving over to Chapel Hill and taking a spot behind the office of my all-the-way-through-school friend Margaret. Along with her boss, we strolled just steps away to the historic Carolina Inn, joining a band of hearty alumni and a handful of current undergraduates for the Order of the Golden Fleece Commencement Breakfast.

This was also my first in-person sighting in almost 30 years of Scott Peeler, Class of '93, who followed a few years after me as president of the UNC Residence Hall Association. Below is a picture he recently dug up of us at the same breakfast in, oh, around 1996...which might indeed have been our last time together. One of us has changed significantly.

After the breakfast, I drove over to Raleigh at the invitation of one of my graduate students from Wake Forest University, once more inviting me to come watch her teach and offer feedback. It was awesome to see her in action with her middle school students, and we had a delightful conversation (over drinks!) after school at a cool spot just outside Five Points. By the time I was home after that full and joyous day, it was oatmeal again, just plain old oatmeal, representing Meal No. 3603.

Meal No. 3602: Baked Herbed Split Chicken Breasts

Once more I was guilty of a suppertime indulgence, this Thursday past, of a somewhat basic meal that I am drawn to because of its simplicity but also its guaranteed satisfaction: baked herbed split chicken breasts, this time with roasted broccoli and roasted spiced potatoes...and the bonus of Alabama great white sauce.

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Cooking guidance from "Baked Split Chicken Breast," from Prospective Phd on AllRecipes.com. [Updated 13 February 2023]

"Alabama Great White Sauce" (p. 362), in Smoke & Spice, by Cheryl and Bill Jamison. Boston: The Harvard Common Press, 2003.

Meal No. 3601: Carrot Cake Oatmeal

While I thought limiting myself to a bowl of oatmeal last Wednesday evening would help me curb my recent overindulgences, that's not going to work out if a hungry fella makes too much of a good thing. And it was darned tasty, even if I'm always tempted to add even more brown sugar. These ribs were happy for this to be sticking to them.

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Based on "Carrot Cake Oatmeal," from Molly Watson of TheSpruceEats.com. [Updated 02 July 2019]

Pink Lemonade Cake for the Crew

You can be forgiven if you overlooked that last Tuesday was National Lemonade Day, but I decided to celebrate with a pink lemonade cake when the crew was over for barbecued chicken that night. It all seemed to go together in a most southern of sensibilities, a sweet sensation following the smoky heat and sweet spice of those tender chicken thighs. Even after the belly-swelled misery of the delicious dinner, those cake squares found their way to our pie holes nonetheless.

Admittedly, I've had mixed success with this recipe in its two previous appearances: one time the cake was fine but I was a tad careless with some food coloring; the other time it really just sucked. I'm not horrible at kitchen endeavors but the mystery of that more recent disaster has haunted me, and I had to give it another shot. While still shy of perfection, this latest attempt was much better—I didn't have to throw it out!

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"Pink Lemonade Cake," from Jocelyn Delk Adams of Grandbaby-Cakes.com. [Published 29 July 2014 / Updated 03 June 2022]

Meal No. 3600: Indoor Barbecued Chicken

On the occasion of the 3600th meal since completion of the new kitchen in May 2009, it was a gathering of nearly all of the Roediger House regulars. With five at the table and a desire to overcome the week's grey overcast mood (an extended wet and dreary weather pattern settled on us for about eight days), something in the comfort realm was called for. Oven baked barbecued chicken, using a new recipe from a dependable source, was at the center of the supper. And it was juicy and full of flavor...but maybe a step down from the previous oven-baked version I made about six years ago.

In a nod to the urge to take it too far, I brought back Willie Mae's mac and cheese, always scrumptious and hearty, consistently just a bit too much, hard to regret nor easy to excuse. As a cooling balance, I had some of my mother's coleslaw prepped and ready as well. This was certainly a meal that left us all feeling pretty stuffed!

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"Oven Baked BBQ Chicken," by Nagi Maehashi of RecipeTinEats.com. [Published 18 May 2020 / Updated 03 May 2023]

"Willie Mae's Mac and Cheese," shared by Willie Mae's Scotch House of New Orleans via Good Morning America. [Published 19 May 2020]

Sweet Southern Coleslaw based in part on a recipe from Allison M. Jones.

Meal No. 3599: Roasted Salmon

A weekend of good food and lots of desserting and snackables had me ready for something straightforward and potentially healthy, if I could just control how much of it I ate. Monday's menu therefore included roasted salmon and roasted broccoli, oh so tempting and wonderfully satisfying.

Snackables & Sweets for the Superintendents 2024

While dear friends Ebbie and Donna were here last weekend, it was a classic and perfect excuse for a snackable and a sweet. Our Friday afternoon starter was a longtime house favorite, and an embarrassingly simple one: southwestern dip, with tortilla chips. I trace that recipe's arrival in my collection at what I think of as one of the major inflection points of my culinary pursuits: accepting a position at Wake Forest University and moving into my faculty apartment as a newly-minted PhD. My dear mother was sending me all the encouragement she lovingly mustered with notable proficiency, plus resources to boot...like the grocery lane checkout recipe mags that Pillsbury and Betty Crocker used to publish. This easy dip was among the first I tried and I've never looked back!

One dessert carried us through two nights, and I could not detect that this proved troubling for anyone: tres leches cake. It turned out pretty perfect, from a recipe that I'd used only once before. In setting up the links at the bottom of this post to properly credit my sources, I found that the blogger whose recipe post was guiding me had adapted her version from a recipe that was in a 2007 Cook's Country magazine sitting in my cabinet...and I'd never marked it as an option to try out. Looking back through the blog, it's clear that my obsesson with the eggnog version has dominated the appearances of this milk-soaked delight, starting in 2015. I think I went on a tres leches cake recipe quest after Silvia Hernandez brought one to the big 2013 Halloween party here—looks like the standard option most often deployed has been Hilah Johnson's recipe for it—and this trip down memory lane also tells me I need to remember to bring back the chocolate version as well!

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"Southwestern Dip," in Betty Crocker Monthly Recipes, December 2001.

"Tres Leches Cake," by Cali Rich in Cook's Country, August-September 2007, p. 26. [Online version revised in July 2021.] I also referred to an adaptation from Danae, the Busty Baker: "Tres Leches with Dulce de Leche and Whipped Cream." [Published 21 February 2009].

Meal No. 3598: Arroz con Pollo

Yet another dependable dish for company in the RoHo archive is arroz con pollo, a full-flavored one-bowl meal made all the better with another steady stand-by: white cheese dip with green chiles. For Donna and Ebbie Saturday night, this was served up, in keeping with the approach of Cinco de Mayo...although quite frankly I'd planned these menus without ever thinking about that Sunday celebration day. They were gracious in their kind comments about it, and I just wanted to make sure that guests so special were afforded an appropriate measure of gratitude for having journeyed down to Winston.

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"Mexican Chicken & Rice," in Cuisine at Home, Issue No. 115 (January/February 2016), p. 10-11.

"The Best Mexican White Cheese Dip," from eatingonadime.com.

Meal No. 3597: Slow Cooker Cuban Lechón Asado

Friday's arrival of two very dear friends and colleagues from Virginia, so marvelously gracious to journey down to make it a fantastic weekend at the Roediger House, is occasion enough for celebration. The catch-up and fill-in conversations with regularly-refreshed wine glasses are front and center, but we've still gotta eat. The overnight citrus-based slow-cook of a pork shoulder, with a bit of Cuban spice and a touch of Mexican heat, became pork mojo sandwiches on homemade burger buns, with creamy lime sauce plus Mexican coleslaw. All that could suffice but I insist that pulled pork in that setting deserves Mexican chipotle street taco barbecue sauce to boost the luscious drippiness of the whole enterprise.

Once homemade burger buns were discovered here, I have a hard time ever wanting store-bought ones, if the time works out for me to make my own. I had an early misstep in the process but they still turned out mostly all right. What went inside of them certainly helped mask any shortcomings.

These ladies are so very special, and that night was the ramp-up to a fantastic and all-too-fast weekend.

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"Slow Cooker Cuban Lechón Asado," from Cory Fernandez of TheKitchn.com. [Published 10 December 2022]

"Beautiful Burger Buns," from Ellen "Moomie" Dorsey of King Arthur Baking. See also the accompanying blog post, "Burger Buns with a Beautiful Backstory," by PJ Hamel. [Published 28 June 2021]

"Mexican Chipotle Street Taco BBQ Sauce," a Roediger House original recipe. [First Made 08 May 2023]

"Cilantro Lime Sauce," from Alexa Blay of Key to My Lime. [Published 04 September 2019]

Mexican Coleslaw assembled using:

• Base Recipe: "Mexican Coleslaw," from Christin Mahrlig of SpicySouthernKitchen.com. [Published 08 August 2017]
• Seasoning Mix: "Homemade Chili and Taco Seasoning," from Jamie Lothridge of MyBakingAddiction.com. [Published 03 February 2011]
• Enhanced Sour Cream: "Easy Lime Crema," from Lisa Bryan of DownShiftology.com. [Published 22 April 2020]

Meal No. 3596: Skillet Beef Stroganoff

Thursday's workday on coaching and feedback conversations at an elementary school in a neighboring county gave me a chance to detour off the highway to stock up on groceries, but my hunger propelled me to put together a quick delicious dinner so that it could be served by about 5:30 pm that afternoon. To the dinner table came yet another recurring house favorite: skillet beef stroganoff. The bowls were joyfully cleaned and what remained in the skillet sure is good leftovers for thems what might be in need.

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Based on "Beef Stroganoff Hamburger Dinner in a Skillet," by Emeril Lagasse. Found online at The Food Network and also on Emerils.com.

Meal No. 3595: Sausage Puff Pastry Pizza

The late afternoon inspection of my irrigation system backflow assembly, required yearly by the City of Winston-Salem, ran up against more involved supper plans. So I had to go with one of my quick-and-easies: a puff pastry pizza. With a smear of homemade quick tomato sauce, some shredded cheddar, and some previously-cooked Italian sausage, all on an easy refrigerated puff pastry sheet, this weeknight pizza came out rather nice and even more so with a finishing topping of mozzarella and provolone. All of this under a glorious first day of May as the new month began last Wednesday, so there was certainly a full enjoyment of outside time after having just spent two days on the road for a work trip.

A good work trip, by the way, including this tasty indulgence on the drive back home from Wilmington:

Replacement Microwave Installed

When the new kitchen was designed and brought online in 2009, a family-sized large-capacity microwave was definitely on my list. The requisite research at that time led me to choose a Panasonic inversion countertop unit, which I ordered that February while I was off on a work trip. I suppose things were busy enough just a few years later when it died in the middle of Thanksgiving Day cooking, because I do not seem to have mentioned it on the blog. And while I should have made a warranty claim, that was back when my travel kept me hopping so much that things like that just fell through the cracks. Fortunately, Costco had a similar solid Panasonic model that I could snag quickly and it's been a steady workhorse ever since.

It might be a coincidence but after one Friday's cleaning by the ladies, I discovered that the microwave's turntable spun not just during cooking cycles but also anytime the door was opened. (Fortunately, it stopped spinning if the door was closed during non-operation.) While it still works perfectly well, I reckon it is a bit long in the tooth, especially with its frequent use by this kitchen dabbler, so I went ahead and upgraded to a newer model. That arrived at back on April 27 and has already been happily pressed into service.

Meal No. 3594: Not So Cajun Chicken

The list of meals thought of as special or traditional or favorites of the house is pretty extensive, but always in the top rankings will be the beloved Not So Cajun Chicken. First encountered when I was living in Raleigh and regularly consumed at Crowley's on Medlin Drive, it was my friend and college roommate Jimmy who found a reasonable approximating recipe for it that I've happily used ever since. It was the very first meal I made in the new kitchen when it was completed in 2009. And it returned to the Roediger House dinner table last Sunday at lunchtime, grandly sauced, suitably spiced, nestled comfortably on fresh-steamed rice.

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"Not So Cajun Chicken," a dish I regularly enjoyed at Crowley's Old Time Favorites restaurant and bar on Medlin Drive in Raleigh, NC. (Another version of the recipe can be found here.) A heap of thanks is due to Jimmy Randolph for tracking down the recipe for me.

Meal No. 3593: French Toast

This spring is proving to be busier than I've come to expect, but it's all good, because I do really enjoy my work. Last Saturday, that meant a seminar day with members of the latest cohort of aspiring administrators in the High Point University Leadership Academy. Our focus was on observation tools and data collection, a prelude to the instructional walks we'll do together in the coming fall. It's not that I got home so very late, but the lovely spring day meant there had to be quality time outside with the dogs. So dinner was simple: French toast on brioche bread, with a childlike abundance of maple syrup about which this adult will feel no remorse.

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"French Toast," by PJ Hamel of King Arthur Baking online.

Chocolate Éclair Cake

When once more the host of regulars found their way back to the Roediger House last Friday, the dessert served up was another special request. This time it was a pan of chocolate éclair cake, something I'd not made in almost two years. Around here we also sometimes enjoy an eggnog version at the holidays but this standard and original old stand-by has been, well, neglected.

I'm no food stylist, and when you've got six people's bowls to fill, considerations of a photogenic nature drop pretty far down my priority list. We'll leave the pretty staged shots to the food bloggers, and in the real world of human appetites ready for their sweet evening finisher, the slices will come out sporting an honest and uncontrived face. As long as the crew is happy with the taste, I'll let the photography medals go to others.

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"Chocolate Éclair Cake," a common and popular recipe.

Meal No. 3592: Beef Chili with Beans

Friday night it was the RoHo regulars back at the table again. It was a chilly grey day and I changed up the menu so that we could have beef chili with beans, along with a big dish of Granny Wilson's honey wheat cornbread. For some, the sour cream had to accompany the sharp cheddar cheese; for others, cheese was enough to please. We had our fill, almost completely emptying out the Dutch oven, but still there could be found a bit of room for dessert. More on that in tomorrow's blog post.

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"Simple Beef Chili with Kidney Beans," from Cook's Illustrated, Number Sixty-One [March-April 2003], p. 10-11.

"Granny Wilson's Cornbread," a recipe shared with me by Linda B. Dunlap.