Here’s a great example of what I call culinary architecture, which entails building on a great foundation. In this case, I’m playing off what Middle Easterners call tabouli, a wonderful salad with a fantastic fresh taste that’s incredibly easy to make (and impossible to mess up). The base of any tabouli is a grain, lemon juice, parsley, and mint. That’s our building block. Then we add the ornamentation, which always emphasizes both form and function. The beans create a complete protein, the pleasing crunch (and a whole bunch of antioxidants) comes from pepper, while olives add a little healthy salt. Like any powerful piece of architecture, it’s the combination of simplicity and tasteful elegance that makes this salad so enjoyable and memorable.
Turn humble onions into this thrifty yet luxe pasta dinner.
This pasta has some really big energy about it. It’s so extra, it’s the type of thing you should be eating in your bikini while drinking a magnum of rosé, not in Hebden Bridge (or wherever you live), but on a beach on Mykonos.
Caramelized onions, melty Gruyère, and a deeply savory broth deliver the kind of comfort that doesn’t need improving.
This is what I call a fridge-eater recipe. The key here is getting a nice sear on the sausage and cooking the tomato down until it coats the sausage and vegetables well.
This classic 15-minute sauce is your secret weapon for homemade mac and cheese, chowder, lasagna, and more.
A dash of cocoa powder adds depth and richness to the broth of this easy turkey chili.
This is the type of soup that, at first glance, might seem a little…unexciting. But you’re underestimating the power of mushrooms, which do the heavy lifting.
I should address the awkward truth that I don’t use butter here but cream instead. You could, if you’re a stickler for tradition (and not a heretic like me), add a big slab of butter to the finished curry.