The Joy of Cooking...Pops Style!

Most of my friends know that I have a young friend, all of 20. He's adopted me as a surrogate dad , of sorts, and he calls me "Pops".

Throughout our adventures in ukulele playing, psychology, culture, humor and semi-fine dining, he has found that this old man knows how to cook. And dude loves my cooking! It's become a bit of a routine for me to take him dinner at work a few times a week. His tastes run pretty similar to mine, so its even easier for me.

Yesterday, I was trying to decide what to make. I had just made gumbo a few days prior and that was going to be a tough act to follow. (if you've had my gumbo, you know this) I had some leftover peppers, so there was a start. I thawed out some chicken thighs and picked up some fresh onions....now what?

Let the creativity begin!

I sometimes just make up a dish as I go along. I'll take an idea from one dish or other, mix it up, add some things, change some things, just to see how it goes. I've been cooking long enough to know what usually works together. This was no exception.

I decided on a shredded chicken dish. When I lived in Ohio, there was a little joint that sold shredded chicken sandwiches. I loved them, so I figured it was as good as start as any. So I boiled and shredded the chicken.

I chopped up some onion, fresh garlic, and cubanelle and red sweet peppers. I mixed it all together, over low heat. It was coming together. Now to season!

I could have gone with just a plain old spice session. Some salt, pepper, blah blah blah. This needed something special, so I opted for unusual. Sure, the aforementioned spices were good but it needed more. I added in some yellow curry, tumeric, 7 spices,cayenne pepper and some paprika. If'd have stopped right there, it would have been fantastic on it's own. But I wasn't done. Not by a long shot.

It's summertime. That means BBQ! So I added in a sweet and spicy Memphis-style sauce. This took it to whole other level! The sweet and spicy mixed with the other spices was just a whole mouthful of WOW! But was I done? Nope. Knowing my target audience, I went a step further!

I made up some boxed cornbread stuffing, knowing how much he likes cornbread. I then spread the shredded chicken into a small casserole dish, added the stuffing on top and about a cup of chicken broth and threw it in the oven for about 20 minutes.

Who cooks like this on a 90+ degree day? ME! That's who! And it was soooooooooo good! #1 SemiPseudoQuasi Adopted Son agreed. This recipe is a keeper. Oh yeah...I made some honey butter biscuits too.