Chicken with rosemary and garlic.
For about 10 years, whenever I needed to impress someone with my cooking, that’s what I made. I don’t remember where I found the recipe, but I first prepared it for my parents way back in high school. I’d whip it up on nights when Mom wasn’t up to cooking and my folks would rave. If I overcooked the chicken and the meat was dry, they never let on.
Later, I’d make it for dates, purposely easing up on the garlic, just in case the aphrodisiac properties of the extra-virgin olive oil should succeed. (Note to younger self: Extra-virgin olive oil is not an aphrodisiac.) Again, my dining companions would “ooh” and “aah,” probably because no 25-year-old kid had ever cooked them anything with rosemary before.
Chicken with rosemary and garlic was like a trusted friend. But aren’t all favorite recipes? A good recipe can be something familiar and comfortable, like a well-worn pair of jeans but also something extraordinary, like a glitzy ball gown. In other words, you throw together your crab dip for an evening with the neighbors, but you save the paella for your boss and his wife.
I was curious to see what our 10 local party hosts would say when we asked them for their favorite go-to recipes. (See “What’s Your Specialty?” on page 32.) Many gave us family creations, passed down like heirlooms from mothers and grandmothers, who likely used them as their own reliable recipes. Others were concocted on the spot and became something to be re-created again and again. Recipes also make us think about those we’ve lost, like Renee Brooks Catacalos, who told us how her gregarious father-in-law passed on his recipe for moussaka not long before his death.
“Whenever we make it,” she said, “we think of him.”
Also in this food-themed issue, you’ll find my own story on training to become a barbecue competition judge. I find it amazing how Salisbury’s annual Pork in the Park has grown into the second-largest barbecue competition in the country in just seven years. The festival takes place in April, but if you want to be a judge, you’ll have to sign up for a class this winter.
On a completely different subject, contributing writer Mary Ann Treger takes a look at Annapolis Mayor Josh Cohen’s first year in office. Cohen took over at an extremely challenging time in the city’s history, and we hear from both his supporters and critics on his job thus far.
I have to admit that I haven’t made chicken with rosemary and garlic in years. Just as friends often do, we lost touch over the decades. But now that I write these words, I’m thinking it might be nice to reunite. Besides, I’m married now, and my wife likes garlic just as much as I do.
Masthead Photo by