Family Dinner with JP

When I first moved in by myself a few years ago, I had a lot to restructure in my life. Not the least of which was: how do you take a recipe designed for 2-4 people, make it for one, and not eat the same meal 3 times a day for the next week? Ready to give up and just eat Lean Cuisine, my dear friends Justin and Dre got me the perfect housewarming present: Serve Yourself: Nightly Adventures in Cooking For One , by Joe Yonan. I have to admit, for a while there I'd see the book staring back at me from the coffee table and I'd swear the cover actually read "How to Eat and Die Alone." Thankfully I got over it, and found some amazing recipes within. I based this recipe off of Joe's recipe for "Potato Chip Tortilla with Shrimp." Yes. I know. Growing up a good Taco Bell fearing American, "tortilla" was a flat round thingy made of corn or flour. And what the hell do potato chips have to do with anything? Sounded a bit like the recipe on the b...

See ... if I call it that, it sounds so simple, right? Real Recipe Name (or; How to Use Words to Impress Your Friends): Oven Roasted Chicken with a White Wine Dijon Mushroom Sauce, served with Pan-Seared Pancetta Brussels Sprouts and Crispy Potato Gratin. You can totally cook this. Est. Cook Time: 2 hours Serves 4 Just a few tricks to keep in mind when you're cooking this meal: Do not overcook your chicken! There is nothing more heinous than that overcooked, dry chicken where you need a glass of water to get down every bite. Its like the Saltine Challenge, only less fun because someone was trying to make something delicious. Crispy skin on the outside, juices running clear. The timing on this recipe worked perfectly, so just relax. Unless you are making a risotto, STIRRING IS NOT YOUR FRIEND. You don't win friends with salad, and you don't brown surfaces with stirring. Keep this in mind with the mushrooms and the sprouts. In a similar vein (and my fa...