Eat out at home every night

Oddly enough, decades of my own bland food didn't bother me until two things happened.  One, I went to a restaurant with a really great chef and two, while watching a chef work on Iron Chef America realized, I can do that!

Not that I could compete in Kitchen Stadium, but I could do that technique, I could make pasta. My first batch was a struggle, too little liquid makes it hard to roll, but it tasted good. Since then I have learned a lot and still have far more to learn.  I have found that my food costs have dropped dramatically because I can now get excellent results with cheaper cuts of meat.

So I have decided to share my voyage of discovery through  this sea of delight. I aim to have a restaurant quality meal every night, at home, for two. That is the inspiration for this blog Eat Out In Every Night.

Where to start?  Stock. You need chicken stock for just about everything so you might as well make your own. You need to have the following ingredients in your pantry at all times.  Onions, carrots, celery, bay leaves, kosher salt, ground black pepper and whole black pepper in a grinder.  Put the celery in a strong plastic bag at the store so you can put some water in it and stand it up in the fridge.  It stays crisp a long time. I buy onions in 3lb bags and carrots in 2lb bags and they don't spoil before I use them.

I buy split chicken breasts, bone in, skin on.  I fry the skin up as a treat for the dog and make stock with the bones. Next post will be boning a chicken breast and making stock.