one of my favorite simple meals ever – in Tuscany.
continuing with the theme of summer simplification, i wanted to share this brilliant list of 101 easy recipes by Mark Bittman. it was published back in 2007 in Bittman's now-retired The Minimalist column, but if recipes can be timeless, these are it.
some of my favorites:
1 Make six-minute eggs: simmer gently, run under cold water until cool, then peel. Serve over steamed asparagus.
12 Boil a lobster. Serve with lemon or melted butter.
14 Put a few slices of chopped prosciutto in a skillet with olive oil, a couple of cloves of crushed garlic and a bit of butter; a minute later, toss in about half a cup bread crumbs and red chili flakes to taste. Serve over pasta with chopped parsley.
72 World’s leading sandwich: prosciutto, tomato, butter or olive oil and a baguette.
it's funny, but i think i approach food much in the same way as i do with style: i like working with the essentials, and prefer simplicity over complex, obscure ingredient-lists and techniques. that's probably why one of my favorite recipes of all time is Marcella Hazan's 3-ingredient marinara sauce, and i have all of Mark Bittman's cookbooks. (How to Cook Everything pretty much taught me how to cook like a grownup.)
what's in your kitchen in the summer? what kinds of foods / recipes do you crave this time of year?