Last week I found myself in a strange rut of trying new things. That is I couldn’t be satisfied with an easy dinner standby and over and over kept trying new dishes that ended up not working out very well and taking a ton of time. I tried a slow roasted salmon which I don’t know how I messed up, but the “slow” seemed geologic. This fish was on the same night I attempted brown rice risotto…which took almost an hour of stirring, eventually ending up in the oven to finish. Another night involved a potato and turnip gratin that again took over an hour, only to end up with a thin sauce that had no flavor. We often joke that with lots of butter and salt how can you go wrong…but it happens.
Experimentation is how you learn to cook, but it can also be a frustrating exercise and I wonder if we really need as much variety as the inexhaustible amount of cookbooks would have us believe. Dr. Daphne Miller, who wrote the newest discussion of the benefits of traditional diets (a la Dr. Price but without the examinations), explained in an interview (which I wrote about here) that the best home cooks have about fourteen meals that they really know well. This gives you a different dinner every night for two weeks. That seems like plenty, especially knowing that some of our busy night dinners aren’t more than quesadillas and a salad with lot of late night buttery toast. (In fact, I wonder if I could count this on my fourteen?).
I think we underestimate the versatility of the old-standby. And these stand-bys are of course dependent on the individual cook and what meals interest them enough to make enough times to really make it second nature. According to Dr. Miller many cooks have these fourteen meals (give or take) and adapt them as needed to what they have on hand and what is in season. That is, if one of your favorite things to make requires fresh tomatoes, think about how to use vegetables that are available in other parts of the year. Also, economically, it is good to first think about what you need to use in the fridge before going to the store for the one ingredient you must have to make your intended dish.
So, in some ways keeping with stand-by dishes and making them work on a whim or in every season requires some experimenting. But I think there is a softer learning curve when you already have a sense of what you are doing. Dr. Miller uses this idea of fourteen dishes to encourage new cooks in their attempt to take control of their diet by making their own meals from scratch. With so many ideas out there overwhelming our sense of what we should be able to accomplish in the kitchen, this number seems doable. I think it is also important encouragement not to worry about making the same dish multiple times close together. I used to put off preparing a meal too many times, which is necessary to really get the hang of it, for fear of boring us at the table. But I am over that now, on the grounds of making it better and for saving time not having to learn something new when really I just want to eat!
My number one favorite standby is roasted veggies. Endless combinations, always really delectable.
Current early Spring favorite:
I also am sold on a very special California Brown Rice, Massa Organics (I actually work for them, but I was eating this rice before getting paid to talk about how great it is, and it is perfect). It has become the staple of many dinners.
This rice and beans is simple but by no means bland. These beans are cooked with a bit of fresh lard from the farmer’s market and loaded with spices. The rice is cooked with a homemade chicken stock and lots of cilantro. That is creme fraiche on top with hot sauce and avo.
So here is my current fourteen that are working well
1. Vegetable soup (often with beans, meat, rice and/or noodles)
2. Stir-fry
3. Spaghetti (with sprouted whole grain noodles, homemade noodles)
4. fritatta
5. tacos
6. miso soup (with veggies and an egg)
7. fish (Pan-fried, either battered or not- if not, make a quick sauce from the pan when finished)
8. Roasted Veggies, sauteed veggies
9. Chili (I learned to put yams in mine, and I keep it vegetarian like I learned it from my mom)
10. Pizza (but now I am been conflicted on how to make the dough, best with sprouted flour?)
11. Grown-up salad, with nuts and cheeses and various sauteed things like shallots and mushrooms, all depending on what we have and what sounds good. Always homemade dressing
12. Quick dinner with egg, either on bread, beans, leftover rice, in broth…
13. Sauce on rice; creamy stroganoff, coconut curry
14. Maybe this is the one I leave for a new thing, making time for experimentation and being ready for disappointment OR success!
These are all pretty flexible in terms of what goes in them, making them adaptable, but also consistent enough that I know what I like to have on hand. Someday I hope to be able to make these without too much thought at all, but hopefully always with inspiration and variation.
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