Culinary Misadventures With the Kiddo, Day 6

This post should probably be titled "Culinary Misadventures With the Husband" since the boy was in his room playing with his first set of Indiana Jones Legos that we let him buy using some of the money we got after rolling coins we'd been saving for...the FSM knows how many years. The husband was really keen to try the chicken tikka masala recipe from America's Test Kitchen episode "Indian Favorites, Simplified."

I'm happy to report that when ATK called these recipes simplified, they weren't kidding. We were a bit under the gun to get supper on the table after a long afternoon out and about (more on that later), and we sat down to supper just over an hour after starting. Not too shabby for a dish such as chicken tikka masala. Part of the reason we got the dish wrapped up so quickly was that I had an extra set of hands; the husband even got to show off his growing chopping skills by tackling the quarter-cup of fresh cilantro leaves. I do wish, though, that ATK would prepare their dishes with kids and cats underfoot, in cramped kitchens, while trying to install software on a laptop or other "real world" circumstances, y'know?

Adventures in Broiling
We used the broiler on the archaic Lady Kenmore for the first time (for us), and we didn't burn down the house!

Okay, the smoke detector did go off (and freaked the boy out since it's on the hallway wall right outside his bedroom), but that doesn't count.

Since I'm not familiar at all with broiling, the chicken got a wee bit burned. Well, the yogurt coating did. But the chicken meat itself was quite juicy and flavorful, so the broiling was a success. I'm anxious to try it again (we have enough masala sauce left over that we can just do another pair of breasts to cut up and throw in for round two) and either move the broiler pan lower or use the Lo setting instead of the Hi setting.

Oh, one more thing to report on the broiling: The top part of the pan I got super cheap at Tuesday Morning wound up warped when all was said and done. Sign of a poor quality product, or sign that the Hi setting was too hot? I dunno. If any of you Gentle Readers out there are old broiling pros or have experience with cheap broiler pans, drop me a comment and lemme know.

Chicken Tikka Masala After-Action Review
1. The chicken only got the minimum time (30 minutes) to marinate with the spice rub.
Lesson learned: Next time I'll be sure to read the entire recipe in advance and make sure the chicken has the full 60 minutes to marinate. Not that it was lacking for flavor, but it might have been more full-bodied if it had more time to absorb more of the spices.
2. The $7 Mario Batali wooden spoon rocks! The husband and I can definitely understand why it got the highest recommendation from Cook's Illustrated. It's well worth the $7 we paid and the little bit of a trip we took to find it. That said, it does only an okay job as a serving utensil.
Lesson learned: Next time, I'll dig out a ladle or a nonmetallic spoon with a deeper bowl.
3. Even when you're being careful, accidents and spills happen. Even though I opted not to cook topless, I was still wearing the new white and black print sundress I'd been wearing out and about and put my Dean & DeLuca apron on to protect it. However, while pouring the crushed tomatoes into the Dutch oven, the can's lid, which I'd left just barely hanging on to the rim so I could swipe the tomato slush from it into the pot (stupid idea, I know, but I'm anal about not letting ingredients go to waste), broke free and sploshed into the tomato slush I was pouring and splattered my apron. Quoth moi, "Boy, I'm glad I put the apron on!" just as a bit chunk of crushed tomatoes rushed from the can and landed with a big, splashing plop! into the Dutch oven. Said big, splashing plop! spattered tomato slop on the control panel of the oven, on the stove top and on the husband's shirt.
Lesson learned: Next time, I will:

• Have an apron for the husband
• Perhaps a new "safety" can opener that will allow me to open the cans and clean off the lids without fear of tearing up a good rubber scraper in the process
• Change out of my nice clothes (and take off the cute but impractical-for-cooking strappy sandals I was wearing while out and about and put on my expensive but incredibly comfortable Dansko flip-flops) and either go topless again or wear something crappy

South Lamar Half-Price Books Rocks!
As I mentioned several paragraphs back, the human residents of Chez Boeckman-Walker went out and about this afternoon. We started our adventure not too far from home and wound our way to South Austin.

We started off at Dairy Queen at Burnet and Steck because, well, we just had to try the Blizzard of the Month. If you can get yourself to a DQ, you must have a Girl Scouts® Thin Mint Blizzard. To describe as "to die for" would be a gross understatement. And after last night's dessert disaster with the peppermint ice cream recipe, the fam and I deserved a good minty ice cream treat.

Speaking of the dessert disaster of July 4, mad props to my sister-in-law for kindly emailing me her favorite, reliable mint chocolate chip ice cream recipe after reading last night's post. Melissa, thank you ever so much and trust that I'll be whipping it up as soon as I offload the quart or so of disastrous peppermint ice cream. (And will probably whip up some of the chocolate chip cookies from the recipe you sent as well. Yummy dessert heaven!)

From DQ we made the short trip to the HPB on North Lamar. We hit here every Saturday or Sunday to see if our favorite comics seller has dropped of some of his or her latest acquisitions. Unfortunately, we didn't have much luck and left a wee bit deflated over the lack of comics goodness.

But we weren't deflated for long! We hit the friggin' jackpot at the South Lamar HPB. Check out our haul:

• Stonyfield Farm Yogurt Cookbook--which still has the coupons that don't expire in it
• 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer (who won the International Association of Culinary Professionals Teacher of the Year aware in 2004)
• The first volume of Indiana Jones Adventures, which hit shelves last week
• Batman: Jekyll & Hyde, which according to Amazon.com isn't even out yet but actually came out June 25
• The collected, hard-bound The Gunslinger Born, which I've been making sacrifices to the FSM in hopes of finding a copy at a HPB--and the FSM has delivered!--so mad props to the FSM
• Batman: Child of Dreams -- the Canadian version, no less
• Suvir Saran's American Masala, which I might take back once I get a chance (ha!) to take a long, lingering look at the recipes inside
• Two early issues of JLA: Classified (which, Gentle Reader, is an older comic book title featuring the Justice League of America)
• Stephen J. Sansweet's The Star Wars Poster Book, which the husband drooled over when it was first announced and has probably been making secret sacrifices to the FSM in hopes of scoring a copy at a HPB, so once again, mad props to the FSM

Quite a haul, non? Look for an expanded "What's on the Coffee Table" sidebar soon--if the poor thing holds up to the weight of all the books!