Food and their magazines

• Just because a recipe calls for it doesn't mean you have to use it (I hate cilantro but love parsley)
• Do not ever believe the number of servings because it makes a big difference on who you are feeding
• Good cooking does not have to be or should it be difficult
• Not everything has to be made from scratch
• Great ideas come from food magazines but be daring and change them up
• Cooking for family and friends is good for the soul

I should have closed my eyes when I walked by the magazine rack in the grocery store but there it was on the front cover, a gorgeous looking rib roast with au gratin potatoes and a salad glistening with dressing.  Do I know how to make these without the magazine?  Sure....but that picture.  So I threw the magazine in my cart, ran back to get the rib roast and hurried home with my version of Playboy.  The groceries are all put away and I search the magazine for the recipes and I do mean search (more on that later).  As I'm reading through the recipe (always,always do this) I see some strange language jumping off the page---Idiazabal and Ikan Bills.  Then I realize they're ingredients.  But for what?  Food?  Paint Remover?  A new cologne?  No, the Ikan Bills are used in the salad dressing and the Idiazabal is in the au gratin potatoes.  So that you don't have to do what I did and run to Google to get these  these defined for you, Ikan bills are dried anchovies (who knew) and Idiazabal is a smokey cheese from Spain.  I don't want recipes that I need a food dictionary for or ingredients  that I have to locate in some store 400 miles from my house.  Oh and to top it off the recipe called for throwing some saffron into the potatoes.  Sure, I'll do that, saffron only costs $135.00 an ounce.This is what I call the snob food magazine.

You may have to search long and hard for recipes in some food magazines.  In Bon Appetit ,for example, there are 138 pages between the covers.  After deducting 2 pages for the index, three pages listing featured recipes, you are left with 133 pages.  Guess how many of those pages have recipes on them?  An astonishing 24 or roughly 17%.  I couldn't bring myself to count the ads.  When I buy a food magazine I want recipes!  I don't want to know the best hotel in Paris, where the stars are flocking to for their hiatus or what dress to wear to the Kardashians Christmas party.

Two of the best magazines are Cooks and Cooks Country.  They have no advertising.  In their 33 pages there are 21 pages with recipes and the remaining offer useful information, how a recipe was created or adapted, taste tests and equipment recommendations.  That's  more like it.  I hope you like this.

                                                           Onion Chicken

                You can also make this recipe with a thick fish, just cook for a little less time.

                 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

                 2 cups french fried onions (crush in a plastic bag)

                 2 T Flour

                 1 egg, beaten

 Heat oven to 400.  Mix the two tablespoons flour with the crushed onions.  Dip the chicken in the beaten egg and then into the onion mix.  Press firmly so the onions will stick to the chicken.  Bake for 20 minutes.  

If you want to devil this up a bit skip the beaten egg and brush the chicken with mustard -dijon, honey mustard or country, whatever you like, and then cover with the onions.

And yes, this is 40 lines long and only 11 lines for the recipe.  Bon Appetit here I come!