My "Dinner is on Me" Experience

My “Dinner is on Me” Experience

The “Dinner is on Me” project was an interesting experience for me because I am used to cooking for about three or four people and only a limited amount of recipes that I cook. I went to my aunt’s house in French Settlement and cooked for my family and hers, which totaled to about 8 people. I had plenty of worries about going into this dinner project because some of the foods I have not tried before, but that is what made it exciting for me.

My soup was a homemade chicken noodle soup. The night before, I cooked and chopped the chicken and had it ready for the day of the dinner, along with pre-sliced vegetables. I was curious about how it was going to turn out, wondering if the noodles were going to end up too soft or have too many and having too many noodles compared to soup. The soup ended up with a nice flavor and the vegetables were perfectly cooked.

The salad dressing was interesting and is something I am planning to make again. I made honey-citrus vinaigrette to go over baby lettuce and romaine, the texture of the soft baby lettuce and the crunchy romaine was an interesting combination. The vinaigrette had a sweet flavor that turned slightly salty as you chew and was a neat taste. I decided to make it simple and not add anything to it, all I had was the lettuce and vinaigrette.

The grilled pork chops were something I have done at home but wanted to make sure it was cooked through, because of a few family members who did not like a pink center. The one time I cooked at home I cooked it the rest of the way in the oven but it came out dry. I decided to wrap each in foil and then put it in the oven and it was able to contain the juices and stay very moist. The broccoli almandine was another dish I have done at home and was able to do easily. I tried to toss a couple of the broccoli with the almonds as they were almost done toasting so I could pass the flavor to as many pieces as possible. The fingerlings were interesting, I used ruby fingerlings and they had an interesting, almost sweet potato like flavor. I learned that tossing them around while in the oven often made them really soft and kept them from burning. I previously tried them at home and found them too crunchy.

The dessert was fun to make. The night before I prepped the vanilla-bourbon berries with the raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries. The sauce was an interesting combination and was really good, I let the berries sit out for an hour and then put them in the fridge to cool down. The sauce and juices mixed together while in the fridge during the night and it made a reddish color sauce that had a sweet flavor. The cake was a new thing for me as well. I have never made pound cake before. The cake ended up really moist and had a nice vanilla flavor that complimented well with the berries and whipped cream. I also put some of the sauce on the cake to make a reddish-pink streak to give the cake some color when I served it.  

The prepping for the meal helped a lot. The night before: I cut the vegetables to go into the soup, made the vinaigrette, made the berries for the dessert, and a couple other things. I found that doing all of this, and as much as I could, I was able to have my dinner go a lot quicker.

When I got to my aunt’s house I set everything out and got my mis en place together for each dish, that way I did not have to search for anything as I went along. I had my little sister take the pictures for me as I cooked. My aunt also set out for me some nice china to take my plating pictures on. It also ended up being my uncle’s birthday on the day I cooked for them.

For cooking the dinner, I decided to cook and then sit with my family while we ate so we could sit together, and then I would proceed to cook our next course. I liked doing this because I was able to watch their reactions and talk to them about the food and they could ask me questions. Before I would sit down to eat, I would prep my cooking equipment for the next course, like turning on the oven and getting my mis en place together.

At the end of the dinner, it got late and we had to move indoors away from the mosquitoes that were beginning to come around. Doing the dinner was for sure hard work and I do not think I would have been able to do it as fast and as well as I did without the help of my family. My uncle was able to keep the trashcan empty for me to have available. The aunt, uncle and a couple of times my cousins did the dishes, even though I told them I would be able to do them, but it helped with being able to keep on cooking through and dish out the dinner courses right when they were done.

I am glad for culinary we get to do a project like this, I was able to try and reach out to new recipes that I have not tried before and make things for my family that they have not had before either. My aunt and one of my cousins were begging for recipes after, it was great. Since the dinner, I have made the potatoes again with the same, and other varieties of fingerlings. They have turned out really good so far. I am waiting for the cold to begin to roll in and start making some chicken noodle soup.

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