Adventures of a Stay-At-Home Dad

Many people know I am a stay-at-home dad to two really awesome girls, aged 9 and 11. One of my "jobs" or "roles" in this position is that of "chef". For the most part, I am responsible for making sure my family eats and eats well. Some days I am more successful at this than others but I admit, somedays dinner comes out of the frozen entree section or we eat out.

I try to cook most nights. By "cook" I mean I try to take a pile of raw ingredients, combine and cook them together into something tasty and nutritious. (Cooking has nothing to do with the frozen food section unless you ares talking about some veggies. Let's be clear on that.). We own a number of cookbooks and among my favorites are those by British chef, author and T.V. personality, Jamie Oliver. Recently I picked up his book, "Meals In Minutes". The simple premise of this book is tasty, nutritious MEALS in 30 minutes or less.

Tonight, my family and I were craving a roast chicken. I learned how to cook a whole chicken in one of Jamie's other books and while it doesn't fall into the category of 30 minutes, it is dead easy to do and delicious. Veggies consisted of carrots roasted along with the chicken and I wanted some potatoes as well. In the new book, there is a recipe for a sort of scalloped potatoes. I looked at the ingredients and was curious that it called for anchovies. Well, Jamie has never steered me wrong before so I picked some up and had at it.

Everything came together easily and I had loads of time (due to the 1-1/2 hour roast time for the chicken). Potatoes, red onion, thyme, Parmesan cheese, cream, anchovies and some other things I can't remember all mixed together and into the oven.

When I brought it out, well, ummm, let's just say it didn't look like anything I could easily identify. It was a dead, greyish-green colour and smelled...well...not like anything I had ever encountered in the kitchen or out. It was bubbly and crispy around the edges (it's only redeeming feature). Jamie has NEVER steered me wrong before. Some are just "ok" in our family but most are "is there any more?" kinds of dishes. So, I pulled apart the chicken, spooned some carrots unto everyone's plate and followed it up with some potatoes.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

"So, ummm, how is everything?", I asked the assembled hungry mouths.

"The chicken is great and so are the carrots", they said.

"Uh huh. Have you tried the potatoes?", I asked.

"Yup.", was the only answer I got.

"And.....?"

"There ok", said my older daughter while my wife asked, "What's in them?"

"Red onion, potatoes, Parmesan, cream, thyme, nutmeg and anchovies", I answered.

Julie (my wife) asked, "You sure about that?". And THAT is when it hit me...

"Actually, I think they were sardines."

"Uh huh", she said. "I think you're right."

After dinner, while cleaning up I thought about what had gone right and wrong with dinner, as I always do. The chicken and carrots were a hit. Obviously, sardines are not an acceptable substitute anchovies. Fair enough. Well, I learned something today. In time, I will have another go at this recipe, somehow believing that Mr. Oliver truly meant anchovies when writing the book. Win some, lose some, I guess.

"Hey Jule, do you figure allspice is an ok substitute for nutmeg? I couldn't find any nutmeg while cooking the potatoes so I went with allspice."

"Ummm, no", she said.

Methinks I need to apologize to Jamie Oliver for butchering his recipe. Sorry Jamie.

We may have pizza tomorrow night.

Thanks for stopping by.


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