Quote:
Originally Posted by Snipe
Simple recipes are good in theory, but I've never really made one I've enjoyed. I think that's the problem with a lot of blogs. They focus more on being a blog and putting out content daily than really teaching you how to cook, giving insights, explaining their reasoning behind things.
I think it depends on your definition of simple but I generally agree following simple recipes without a basic understanding of making you way around the kitchen isn't that helpful. It is important to understand flavors and ingredients but it doesn't take too much time to get the hang of it with cooking. For instance I often make a "simple" meal on Sunday's w/ my GF. She is a vegetarian so a lot of times no meat involved. Two years ago this involved me making pasta and my own sauce and a simple salad. Now after eating at restaurants and figuring out flavor combinations I have a bunch of simple great recipes. For example:
Salad
- Arugula
- Scallions
- Pistachios
- Avocado
- Parmesean
- Tomatoes or fruit (peaches or apples)
- Dressing 50% EVOO and 50% lemon juice with salt and pepper (add cayenne if sweet fruit used in salad)
Toss with dressing and serve
Balsamic Carrots
- Heirloom carrots
- Aged balsamic
- EVOO
- Salt / pepper
Toss carrots with balsamic and EVOO, roast in oven on cookie sheet until soft and tender.
Rosemary Potatoes
- New potatoes (heirloom if possible)
- EVOO
- Rosemary
- Whole grain mustard
- Salt / pepper
Have or cube potatoes depending on size, toss in EVOO, rosemary and mustard mixture. Roast in over on cookie sheet until crunchy.
In NYC I get a ton of seasonal stuff at the farmers market and just kind of take it from there (i.e. ramps in the spring, good mushrooms at various times, heirloom tomatoes, etc.). Once you get a good idea of basic flavor combinations / profiles, I pretty much just google and mix / match recipes and ingredients. That being said, I grew up with a mom who cooked and have actively cooked since midway through college. Early on I had to call mom and ask things like how much EVOO do you dress the pasta with whereas now I just take canned San Marzanos and make my own sauce in 15 minutes. Seems simple not but in retrospect what I do took time to learn.
For instance I might google balsamic carrots, look at a few recipes and try variations on mine. Of using the above seasonal ingredient example I might just google chanterelle mushroom entree and end up with some fairly easy to make mushroom crostini. That being said what I consider above as "simple" likely isn't simple to someone who has only made mac and cheese.
Note: Will get pictures of the above plus lots more of my GFs iPhone soon and put up here.