same old same old

It is really easy to fall into the trap of continually making the same thing or rotating through a small repertoire of dishes.  Cajun spice on chicken and fish is delicious but it becomes monotonous when it is prepared the same way repeatedly.  My last chicken dish I tried something a little different, I shake'n baked it with flour, salt, mixed pepper corns, poultry seasoning and paprika. Rather than searing it I sprayed it with oil so it would brown evenly.

While everything was cooking I stood in the kitchen thinking I have time to make a sauce but I don't want another lemon sauce.  What would go with the seasoning already on the meat?  I couldn't come up with a single idea. In hind sight I could have made honey mustard or ginger or garlic sauces but that isn't much to choose from

The problem isn't lack of ingredients, it's that I haven't tasted enough really good sauces to develop a well of ideas to draw from. I'll have to make a point of trying new sauces when I go out for dinner. In any case the chicken was good but really did cry out for something, anything, to give it a little zing.

The next evening we had pork chops with a mustard brown sugar sauce.  It might have flown if I hadn't used so much dijon mustard to start.  That meant I had to use a lot of sugar to bring down the bitterness.  Unfortunately bitter sweet works better in relationships than pork chops. I added mushrooms sauteed in butter but it just wasn't enough.

 Feeling a need to redeem myself, next evening I made Cajun chicken with a delicious simple lemon sauce.  It was wonderful and I was back on culinary track. I'm going to make a point of trying garlic and ginger sauces next.