There was a book or an article long ago about the simple dishes being the true test. Looked for it on Amazon but couldn’t find it. Maybe Alice Waters’s book is good.
Butternut squash soup was a big thing in restaurants a few years ago. But then I had a really good one. Some restaurant on the third floor of the Time Warner Building. A very simple dish. I don’t know what the chef did right but it was transforming. And not gussied up. Probably the quality of the squash at least.
Indeed. I really don’t fuss too much with cooking. Chicken - bake it. Steak - broil it or grill it. Fish - steam it. Not much else maybe some garlic salt rub. And with fish, I sometimes put some fruit juice in the water for flavor. With the chicken, potatoes in the pot. Wife also puts carrots and I like carrots but don’t like them chicken-fat cooked.
For vegetables my dad told me as a kid, use the vegetable that the animal will eat. So with meat, I’ll make broccoli or green beans or spinach. With fowl, peas or corn. For fish, well I don’t want to eat what fish eat.