An article in the magazine, RUNNERS WORLD (Mar 2018 issue), by food and nutrition editor, Heather Mayer Irvine, caught my attention the other day. Here’s how this almost 1-year-old article started: “I own a lot of cookbooks. Yet, I always resorted to the same meals—until now.”

I could relate. Can you? It’s easy to get into a meal-making rut, don’t you think? So I read on, wondering what she did to break this ho-hum routine.

Her solution intentionally became a New Year’s resolution. The resolution? Choose one to two new recipes to make every week. Repeat, indefinitely.

I remember once wanting to attempt that. I’m guessing you Cook’n readers do this on a fairly regular basis, so you’ll really get what Heather had to say about the outcome. She says she learned some important things as she was engaged in weekly new-recipe-adventures. Perhaps you’ll relate to her discoveries.

First of all, thumbing through cookbooks is exciting. When you’re looking through the right cookbook, you should be drooling as you turn the pages. It’s actually best not to choose a recipe right before you head out to grocery shop because you’re not giving yourself (or the recipes) the time meal-selection deserves.

It’s smart to spend a few minutes on each recipe to determine what you’re in the mood for, what would be a fun challenge, and what would expand your palate. Plus, all this conjuring and the idea of trying something new is exciting. So take time to savor it.

Long ingredients lists are daunting, but manageable. Heather says she learned not to breeze past a recipe with a ton of ingredients. She found that it was worth her time to take stock of what she actually had in the house. After doing so, she realized she didn’t need to buy that many more ingredients after all. And she’s convinced that once you get your ingredients organized, most prep is pretty easy.

Her bottom line advice is good: “It’s good to try new recipes, but don’t overwhelm yourself and try to do everything at once. Don’t make five days of new recipes and buy 65 different ingredients you may only use once per recipe.” Instead, she says, try one or two recipes a week, or choose a handful of recipes that have similar ingredients so you can buy once and cook all week.

“Weird” ingredients aren’t really that hard to find. Heather discovered from experience and through her research as a food editor, that today’s supermarkets are getting savvier about the need to cater to customer wants and trends. Thus what once took a lot of searching for can now easily be found. Miso and sesame paste are just a couple examples.

Finally, variety is the spice of life. Meals should never be boring, not in a day and age of so many food choices and easy availability. Heather is convinced the added excitement and adventure of tasting new dishes that spending extra time searching for and preparing new recipes takes is well worth the effort. I couldn’t agree more.

So going forward in 2019, here’s to our own experimenting with new recipes. And to get us started, here’s a superb recipe for the best pan-fried chicken cutlets we’ve ever had. This recipe was ranked #1 on the New York Times Most Popular Recipes of 2018 list. It’s bathed in a lemony, buttery sauce, and pairs well alongside a pile of rice, noodles or potatoes. The best part: The dish comes together in about 35 minutes.

CHICKEN FRANCESE

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

4 eggs, beaten

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

1/2 cup white wine

2 cups chicken broth

1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley

salt to taste

pepper to taste

1/4 cup butter

2 lemons, juiced

1 teaspoon cornstarch

1. Coat chicken with flour, then egg beat, then saute in a large skillet until almost cooked through. Drain on paper toweling.

2. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).

3. In a medium saucepan combine the wine, broth, parsley, salt and pepper to taste, butter or margarine and lemon juice over medium low heat. Stir together while heating slowly. When butter or margarine has melted, slowly stir in cornstarch until sauce thickens slightly. Place chicken in a 9x13 inch baking dish and pour sauce over all.

4. Bake at 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) for about 10 to 15 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and juices run clear.

TIP: Aluminum foil can be used to keep food moist, cook it evenly, and make clean-up easier.

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