Cold Oven, Uncooked Chicken. Help!

Dear Cecily,

At my dinner party last night, I accidentally turned off my oven just as I put the chicken in to roast. 40 minutes and one soup course later, I went in the kitchen to find cold, uncooked chicken. My guests were hungry, it was late and my chicken still needed 40 minutes to cook. What could I have done?

From,
Alison in Boston


Dear Alison,

Believe it or not, something very similar once happened to me. I'm convinced our cat turned off the oven. The first thing I did was to freak out (very quietly) in the kichen. Then I explained the dilemma to my husband. He proceeded to refill all the wine glasses while I went to the kitchen and took stock of the situation. I had already served the soup course, so we couldn't linger over that. Dessert before chicken just wouldn't work. But there was the side vegetable, the roasted asparagus. And I remembered the lovely crackers that one guest had brought as a hostess gift. Perfect! Honor the guest and create another course, almost out of thin air. I arranged the crackers on plates next to the roasted asparagus. Smiling confidently, I served this elegant salad course over which we lingered. My husband refilled the wine glasses and presto, the chicken was done. Create an extra course from your side vegetable and whatever you have around. No one will be the wiser...

Happy Cooking,
Cecily