Aroma.

An aromatic meal can bring such warmth and comfort to a home.

Such as garlic and rosemary and olive oil.  Yes, olive oil.  It carries such a hearty, deep, rich smell and essence to food.

Heat within itself can bring out many different flavors from the simplest of ingredients.

Such as roasted vegetables and a simply cut meat.

Tonight, your home is going to be filled with the smells of Roasted Red Potatoes with Garlic Cloves with Salt and Peppered Green Beans.  Along with Roasted Chicken with Caramelized Onions and a White Wine Dijon Sauce.

Simple, and yet so delightful and elegant.

What makes a good meal better is a good cook. Tailoring your meal to your taste, to what you know is right.  Even with that being said, sometimes we forget that less can be more.  A meal doesn't have to be decadently seasoned in order to become that meal.

Remember, simple is golden.

The Chicken:  An important note.  When a recipe says to pat something dry, they mean, pat it dry.  Like bone dry.  If your meat is wet, its not going to brown properly.  Even Julia Child will tell you that.

The potatoes are found here: http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/thyme-roasted-potatoes-with-garlic

The garlic cloves are fabulous.  Most people are used to sauteing garlic, and to the sharp spice and spark.  Anytime you cook garlic slowly at high temperatures, you're going to be able to bring the sweet, mellow, smokiness out of it.  Don't be afraid to eat the whole cloves.

The Salt and Peppered Green Beans is the simplest recipe you're ever going to use.  Over and over and over again.  It's that good.

 

Dry.

We all hate dry flavorless meat.

Especially when it comes to fajitas.

This should help:

Challenge.

I challenge you to become a vegan.

Not for a week, or a day.

Just for one meal.

You may surprise yourself...

Fresh Version.

Beef Stroganoff is such a comfort food.  But you don't need a side of mashed potatoes or anything else, in this case.
 It holds it own.

Not overly saucy or artery-clogging.

It's a dignified comfort food.  It possesses backbone flavors that can be easily accompanied with a wine.

So says my mother as she sipped an Australian Chardonnay. 

I wouldn't know.  I'm just quoting her.

But, what if we took this Soul Searching Comfort Food and put a twist on it?

Making it lighter?

Sharpening it with new flavors?

Perhaps adding a few new ingredients?

What if it was Turkey Stroganoff?

I don't know about you, but I see no harm in this at all.

I find it all quite delightful.

Apple Pie.

I  made apple pie.

It was my first pie...ever.

And I learned some things.

When my dad and two uncles were growing up, my grandmother would make apple pie all the time, at least often enough that my dad would be able to pass on a tip.

The dough rolled out beautifully, but I was having trouble transferring it to the pan.  My dad saw the trouble I was having as he walked through the kitchen.

He told me , "Your grandmother used to roll the dough out, fold it, set it in the pan, and then unfold it."

***And that's just what I did.  I rolled out my dough, dusted it lightly with  rice flour so that it wouldn't stick, and folded it into a square and set it right on top of that pile of fruit, unfolded it, and bam, I did my thing.

Thank you Grandma Berg, and thank you daddy for remembering.

Just as a reminder, it was my first pie, so it wasn't very pretty.  But you have to admit, it was pretty in its own kind of a way.