In honor of the great Hunter S. Thompson, I wonder whether you cooks
sometimes create something unique by casting aside your rules and
inhibitions just for the sake of the adventure?

I seldom stray far from the tried and true, but now and then you just
have to say wotthehell, archy. Most such forays turn out to be not
worth repeating, but one dish has been repeated numerous times. We'd
been drinking margaritas when I started to cook. I browned some
seasoned (s&p) chicken pieces, then tossed in some tequila and flamed
it (whee!) and deglazed the pan. Added onion and garlic, then saw the
limes on the counter. Squeezed the juice from a couple of those over
the chicken. On a roll now, I splashed in some Triple Sec, covered and
simmered till done. So, Margarita Chicken. Later, of course, I
discovered that this was not a new dish--but it was new to me at the
time, and it was good.

-aem

"aem" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> In honor of the great Hunter S. Thompson, I wonder whether you cooks
> sometimes create something unique by casting aside your rules and
> inhibitions just for the sake of the adventure?
>
> I seldom stray far from the tried and true, but now and then you just
> have to say wotthehell, archy. Most such forays turn out to be not
> worth repeating, but one dish has been repeated numerous times. We'd
> been drinking margaritas when I started to cook. I browned some
> seasoned (s&p) chicken pieces, then tossed in some tequila and flamed
> it (whee!) and deglazed the pan. Added onion and garlic, then saw the
> limes on the counter. Squeezed the juice from a couple of those over
> the chicken. On a roll now, I splashed in some Triple Sec, covered and
> simmered till done. So, Margarita Chicken. Later, of course, I
> discovered that this was not a new dish--but it was new to me at the
> time, and it was good.
>
> -aem


Original to me at the time was taking the TJ'S frozen berry medley (no
strawberries) and soaking them in cream sherry and ultimately spooning them
over lemon sorbet.

It made a great presentation in a red wine glass with a mint sprig.

Dimitri

Served garnished with a twist of lemon and an umbrella on the side? :-)

"aem" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> In honor of the great Hunter S. Thompson, I wonder whether you cooks
> sometimes create something unique by casting aside your rules and
> inhibitions just for the sake of the adventure?
>
> I seldom stray far from the tried and true, but now and then you just
> have to say wotthehell, archy. Most such forays turn out to be not
> worth repeating, but one dish has been repeated numerous times. We'd
> been drinking margaritas when I started to cook. I browned some
> seasoned (s&p) chicken pieces, then tossed in some tequila and flamed
> it (whee!) and deglazed the pan. Added onion and garlic, then saw the
> limes on the counter. Squeezed the juice from a couple of those over
> the chicken. On a roll now, I splashed in some Triple Sec, covered and
> simmered till done. So, Margarita Chicken. Later, of course, I
> discovered that this was not a new dish--but it was new to me at the
> time, and it was good.
>
> -aem
>

My best experiments happen when I'm cooking for myself. I believe this
happens simply because I'm willing to take all kinds of risks that I
wouldn't take if someone else is going to be eating the dish.

>In honor of the great Hunter S. Thompson . . .

I just wanted to point out that this means Doonesbury will have to redo
all its storyboards. Biggest wrinkle in the project since 9/11.

Neil

In article . com>,
aem > wrote:
>In honor of the great Hunter S. Thompson, I wonder whether you cooks
>sometimes create something unique by casting aside your rules and
>inhibitions just for the sake of the adventure?

Hm... An appropriate recipe would probably be a smoothie
made by filling a blender with tequila and assorted vegetation
of problematic legality.

One would probably have to have built up Thompson's decades-long
cultivated immunity to survive a slug of it.

--
Yes, I am the last man to have walked on the moon, | Mike Van Pelt
and that's a very dubious and disappointing honor. | mvp.at.calweb.com
It's been far too long. -- Gene Cernan | KE6BVH

On 22 Feb 2005 09:55:02 -0800, "aem" > wrote:

>In honor of the great Hunter S. Thompson, I wonder whether you cooks
>sometimes create something unique by casting aside your rules and
>inhibitions just for the sake of the adventure?
>
>I seldom stray far from the tried and true, but now and then you just
>have to say wotthehell, archy. Most such forays turn out to be not
>worth repeating, but one dish has been repeated numerous times. We'd
>been drinking margaritas when I started to cook. I browned some
>seasoned (s&p) chicken pieces, then tossed in some tequila and flamed
>it (whee!) and deglazed the pan. Added onion and garlic, then saw the
>limes on the counter. Squeezed the juice from a couple of those over
>the chicken. On a roll now, I splashed in some Triple Sec, covered and
>simmered till done. So, Margarita Chicken. Later, of course, I
>discovered that this was not a new dish--but it was new to me at the
>time, and it was good.
>
>-aem

New to me today was making hominy pancakes ( a great use of cornmeal,
btw, recipe source - Joy of Cooking, but add more milk as the mixture
steams) interspersing them with sauteed pears and candied ginger in a
five pancake stack, and placing the little pile on the plate in a pool
of ginger syrup. Yum, yum.

Shirley Hicks
Toronto, Ontario

On 23 Feb 2005 19:40:45 -0800, "Neil" > wrote:

>>In honor of the great Hunter S. Thompson . . .
>
>I just wanted to point out that this means Doonesbury will have to redo
>all its storyboards. Biggest wrinkle in the project since 9/11.
>
>Neil


The Hunter fired the shot,
In an effort to thicken the plot.
He finished his life,
In turmoil and strife.
But his story wasn't worth squat.




Rusty