February 3, 2014

Catch-Up Chicken

dani@slyrooster.com Chicken chicken, ketchup 3 Comments

My love for ketchup runs long and deep. When I was young I would put ketchup on absolutely everything, and specifically to disguise the taste of meat which I never did enjoy. As I’ve “matured” I have branched out from ketchup and developed relationships with a whole host of condiments; pretty much the ketchups from every country. But I will never forget my first true love and I do not bemoan my children’s affection for the Heinz bottle, especially if a little squirt helps them clear their plate.

Einat Admony, author of Balaboosta, a new cookbook filled with bold Mediterranean recipes, holds the polar opposite belief to mine. She states, “I raised my kids on the principle that ketchup isn’t a solution; it’s an indication: if my children don’t like something, they shouldn’t add ketchup–they simply shouldn’t eat it in the first place.” I see her point, clearly, but I have made choices regarding dinnertime battles, especially when my kids were younger. I bought into the philosophy that children need to be exposed to different foods, sometimes as many as a dozen times, before they may like it. If the taste needed to be “enhanced” along the way and they cleaned their plates, I considered it a win.

This recipe from Balaboosta is the perfect compromise between Admony’s thinking and my own. It prominently features ketchup in the recipe, giving the chicken a tangy, sweet flavor but it’s use is purposeful not a disguise. My kids and one of their friends gobbled up the dish, and Gary enjoyed it, as well. Catch-Up Chicken works as a family meal when you are looking to maintain the peace.

As my kids are growing up, I notice that they are naturally pulling back from the ketchup bottle and less often ask to use it inappropriately. But then again, my view is admittedly skewed as I firmly believe that ketchup belongs in mac & cheese. Ah, before you turn up your nose, give it a try–you’ll never go back!