My Husband, the Chef

Can I just say up front that I have the most amazing husband in the world? I really do. The other morning, I had woken up completely exhausted. I hadn’t slept well, and the thought of getting through the day was a little more than I could handle at 4:30 in the morning. Josh said, “What can I do to help you get through your day? What if you came home after work and went straight to bed for a nap? When I come home I’ll start dinner, and I’ll come wake you up when it’s done.”

How amazing is that? All day I was looking forward to that nap and waking up to dinner.

Guys, if you’re wondering how to get your girl to fall in love with you all over again, cook her dinner. Completely cook her dinner. Don’t let her help. The rule is you’re in the kitchen, and she’s in a hot bath or with a book or in bed, completely relieved of any responsibility for the evening. And ordering pizza or opening a box of macaroni does not count. That’s nice and all, but the utterly romantic, make-a-girl-melt is dinner from scratch. And it doesn’t have to be anything fancy.

I woke up to a wonderful husband chopping vegetables and salmon baking in the oven. I sat at the table in my pajamas and talked about our day while he finished dinner, and I got to just sit and adore him. Don’t get me wrong, I love to cook, but there are some days when it’s nice to have a break. And his gift to me tasted incredible.

Salmon with Lemon and Sauteed Veggies

He baked a beautiful fillet of salmon with some lemon slices on top, and sauteéd some red peppers, onions, and jalapeños. Simple, delicious, and so comforting!

And it gets even better.

The next evening, I had plans to spend some time with a girlfriend after work, and would end up getting home about an hour or so after Josh got home. It would mean a late dinner, but we could whip up something quick. Instead, for the second day in a row, I came home to dinner started.

This time, he had rubbed some chicken breasts down with butter and fresh thyme and put them on the warm side of the grill to slow-cook. It took about an hour for them to cook all the way through, and towards the end we threw on some bare corn to roast. Rub the corn down with some lemon (lime is better, but lemon was all we had on hand, and it works just fine too) and salt, and we had a delicious dinner!

Slow Roasted Chicken with Thyme and Butter, Roasted Corn on the Side

Isn’t my husband amazing! Yes, I think so too.

Tags: Fish, Grilling, Salmon, Veggies

This entry was posted on September 06th, 2008 and is filed under Recipes, Thoughts on Food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or Trackback from your own site.