Best simple recipes?

[sram]

so after many years of cooking the most elaborate recipes i could get my hands on, i've made a new resolution to embrace simple, clean recipes - preferably those using five ingredients or less. . .

what are your favorites? any suggestions for good sources? (i'm seeking recipes using fresh, seasonal ingredients, and it's ok if they take a little time to prepare).

[slaks99]

I have the same exact resolution!!! I love to cook every day but find that at times I get overly fussy and stressed, going to different grocery stores to get obscure ingredients, choosing elaborate dishes and spending way too much mental energy on how to modify and improve on recipes. I'm a chowhound, but I'm so many other things too, right? Right.

Simplicity can be sublime... every other day this week I've eaten cold soba noodles with green onion, sesame seeds, and shredded wakame. Dipped in a saucer of noodle base tweeked with sesame oil and grated ginger. It takes less than 10 minutes to throw together, is super cheap and healthy, and the delicious simplicity is beyond words. Can be accompanied for chinese brocolli quickly sauteed in oyster sauce.

[sram]

Yes! My husband has firmly told me that we are limited to one grocery store per shopping trip, but there always seems to be that one ingredient. . .Don't get me wrong, I love hunting for different ingredients, but the time is simply not there anymore.

We're trying your noodles tonight! Thanks!

[sweetlikesugar]

Hi! I like baked chicken with Herbes de Provence and citrus wedges and/or garlic inside, olive oil drizzled over it before it goes in the oven. Roast Beef and Roast Pork... there are a million recipes out there, and most of them don't involve more than a simple rub. Use leftover baked chicken for BBQ chicken salad... remove skin and bones, chop small, add red onion, fresh basil, and equal amounts mayo and your favourite BBQ sauce. Use leftover roasts by thin-slicing for salads or stir-frys. I'm way into the leftovers-thing... it makes life a lot simpler, never mind the number of ingredients.

[rcallner]

A friend brought us some home-made spinach tagliatelle over the holidays - they were too beautiful to overcomplicate, so, I cooked them (freshly made, they only took a few moments in the water, tossed in a pound or so of baby arugula leaves, drained, then tossed with some feta cheese crumbled and lightly melted in good chicken broth. Once the ingredients are assembled, it takes all of 5 minutes to make, and maximizes simple, high-quality ingredients.

[Morganna]

Chicken breast baked in chopped tomatoes and chiles, or tomatoes mixed with chipotle powder, served over rice cooked in broth.

[Ali]

My favourite in-season simple recipe also happens to come together super quickly:
Saute a few cloves of minced garlic until fragrant. Toss in chunked blue oyster mushrooms and cook until the liquid given off is mostly gone. Add a seeded & diced tomato or two and cook until the tomatoes have broken down a bit. Toss with pasta & julienned Thai basil and enjoy.

Dill & butter boiled potatoes serves as a good starch for winter.

[janniecooks]

Gourmet Magazine has a monthly feature, Five Ingredients, in which they present a recipe using only five ingredients. Here's the description from the website:

"Sometimes the simplest solution is the most elegant. Every month, Gourmet brings you a pared-down but sophisticated dish with just a handful of key ingredients. Click on this month's topic below, or choose one from our archive in the pulldown above, for recipes that maximize the flavor and minimize the fuss."

And here's the link: http://www.epicurious.com/gourmet/5_i...

[pikawicca]

Roast chicken, sauteed fish fillets, seared steak, roasted veggies, salad with a simple vinaigrette, salad of any grain with veggies and vinaigrette, any fish roasted and served on a bed of lentils and sauteed spinach. Bread salad with grilled shrimp. Lots of soups. Frisee salad with poached egg.

[piccola]

My two favourite pasta recipes are super simple, and have fewer than five ingredients.

My mom makes pappardelle with zucchini sauce - the sauce is basically zucchini sautéed with garlic and herbs until they fall apart. You can thin it out with wine or broth if it's too thick, and top with grated cheese to serve (both are optional).

She also makes orecchiette with peas and ricotta. Again, the "sauce" is pretty self-explanatory: peas and onions sautéed until soft, mixed with ricotta thinned with pasta water. It's spectacular if you stir in fresh mint.

[ktm]

I love to cook but cook almost exclusively "simple recipes". If your ingredients are fresh seasonal and local, they don't need much help to be delicious. My favorite is a vegetable soup made with chicken stock and any single vegetable then pureed. Asparagus has so much flavor it needs nothing else except some salt and pepper and a little butter stirred in at the end for richness. Tomatoes make an amazing soup if you slow roast them first then puree with stock and add some fresh basil. With carrots or beets or squash (roast for added richness) I will add some grated ginger and maybe squeeze in some orange or tangerine juice and a little grated rind. Another delicious one is avocado which isn't even cooked, just puree the stock and avocados with some lime and cilantro and jalapeno if desired. Serve cold / room temp with a dollop of sour cream on top.

[DanaB]

While you are waiting for other responses, here's a link to a recent LONG thread on people's favorite "impressive but easy" recipes:

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/399784