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Give the microwave a rest and channel your inner chef

June 4, 2008 12:15 am

AT SOME POINT, it had to happen.

There's only so much pasta-with-jarred-red-sauce or frozen-entree-from-the-sale-rack that someone who likes real food can endure before she breaks down and starts shopping in parts of the grocery store where things aren't cooked already.

Six years ago, I was living alone for the first time in my life. No roommates who could cook, no college meal plan, no mom cooking dinner. Just me, my oven and whatever I'd bought at the grocery store.

And, for a long time, that wasn't pretty. Canned soups, dried pasta, jarred sauces and frozen dinners took up most of the space in my grocery basket.

Boneless, skinless chicken breasts? Never heard of 'em.

Lean ground beef? What on earth would I do with that?

As a newspaper reporter in Lynchburg, a town with three TV stations, I would rush home on the nights I wasn't working to catch the 6 p.m. local news broadcast.

On commercial breaks-- and during stories I didn't care about--I'd flip through the other channels, and that's how I met a perky Food Network host cooking something called "30-Minute Meals."

Now, before all you Rachael Ray-haters flood my inbox with messages about how she's harming us all by riddling the culinary lexicon with disasters like "EVOO," "stoup" and "yum-O," please hear me out.

Ray gets slammed by most foodies for her shortcuts and her tendency to giggle uncontrollably over something like, say, mozzarella cheese.

I find her hard to stomach these days, too, especially now that her face is splashed all over Dunkin' Donuts ads and Wheat Thins boxes.

But she got me to cook.

I saw her make her version of risotto and thought, "I can do that."

I saw how any idiot could turn packaged cuts of raw meat into actual meals and realized I need not fear the meat counter.

I learned to cook and I graduated from Ray. Now I find myself hopelessly addicted to food-themed television, food blogs and the steadily growing pile of cookbooks in my kitchen.

I'm not one for overly orchestrated dinner-party fare with hard-to-pronounce names.

I like simple food that will make my everyday meals--the ones my husband and I eat at home and the ones I take to work--more enjoyable and less boring.

I also like revisiting some of my childhood favorites.

I've had fun experimenting with various techniques and recipes for things like pimento cheese, fried chicken and even something as simple as a pan of brownies.

In this space, twice a month, I hope to share some of those kitchen adventures, and I hope you'll share some of yours with me.

On that note, let's eat.

Here's a recipe I like for Friday afternoons after work, when you want to kick back with a few friends and a beverage of choice.

It's inspired by a similar dip I saw glamour girl Giada DeLaurentiis make on the Food Network, but I wanted cheese in mine, and eventually it became a pesto dip. I also left the garlic out, which makes it a little more friendly for parties where you're likely to be mingling and chatting a lot.

Don't get me wrong--I'm not averse to loading up my dishes with garlic. But we'll get to that later.

Emily Battle: 540/374-5413
Email: ebattle@freelancestar.com